Fight fire with fire
by RainingSunshineEverywhere
Summary: This is a TREQUEL that comes after "All is not forgotten". This time it's really the end. From dreams that come true to mind-reading people and from unexpected love to unanswered questions... Here is what it all crashes down to...
1. Chapter 1: Dreams, Flashbacks and Bushes

**A/N: Okay I know this is in the CWACOM category… But listen me out: I did say I'll be posting my next CWACOM story on September 18****th****, but here is just a PREVIEW (and the 1****st**** chapter) of what to sorta expect... I plan to continue it in September. Yes grab a gun and shoot me for saying no more CWACOM. I hate that I said I was writing my last CWACOM fanfic and suddenly BAM! I go ahead and break my promise. The reason is that I just can't take it anymore! I love writing for this category! So I want to make this a trequel that comes after "All is not forgotten". I want you to tell me if I should continue this in September… or now.**

The hallway was light up brightly. The floor, walls and ceiling were all painted dark blue. Taking deep breaths, Angelica walked down the hall and looked around nervously. She didn't know where she was or where she was even going. The hallway seemed to go on forever. Suddenly she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Gasping, she looked around frantically and then snatched her dagger out of her belt and threw it upward at the lights.

There was a shatter and the light went out. She must have hit some cord, because soon all the lights down the whole hall went out. Trembling with fright, she crouched down to the floor and heard her dagger fall to the floor beside her. Quickly, she snatched it up and gripped it up in her hand tightly.

"WHO GOES THERE?" came a loud male voice. But Angelica kept quiet. She gripped her dagger even tighter, in case she had to attack.

"I know you're there, missy. Ye can't hide forever." Came another voice and Angelica took another deep breath.

She heard the footsteps coming closer and closer. Suddenly she felt a foot nudge her. She yelped and then struck her dagger into the foot. Blood oozed onto her hand and she screamed. The person whose foot she stabbed screamed too. She tried to get up, but the moment she did, a hand grabbed her throat.

"Hello, missy." Came a snarling voice.

"Let me go!" Angelica shrieked and tried to kick the man, but he raised her off the floor by the neck and she tried to desperately push his hand away.

"I will if you tell me something. Did YOU kill Code 1?" the man growled in her face.

The moment she gasped, the man let go of her and she dropped to the floor coughing. Then she looked up at the man. But it was too dark to see any of his face. _Code 1? Huh? I don't get it? The League? I'm confused. Albert? _She thought and her eyes widened. But the man just laughed.

"I can read your mind, Code 4. Get up!" the man then snapped and Angelica scrambled to her feet hurriedly.

"I did kill him." She replied in a quivering voice and her face went pale.

The man laughed and she heard more laughter behind the man.

"Missy? Do you really think he is dead?" The man snapped his fingers and out of nowhere the lights came on. Even if the lights were broken, they somehow came on.

Once they came on, Angelica looked around. There was a group of people standing there. All were grinning evilly at Angelica. She gulped and then looked up at the man who choked her and just stared.

Then she let out a scream louder than she ever screamed.

At the same time, she woke up in bed, still screaming. Her face was covered in cold sweat and she was shaking so hard, that she could barely sit up.

"Angelica! What's wrong?" Denis kicked the door open to her bedroom and ran in.

"B-bad d-dream." She trembled. He came and sat down beside her. Denis put a comforting arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder still shaking.

A shadow appeared in the doorway and Esto wheeled himself into the room in his wheelchair. When he saw Angelica shaking in Denis's arms, he wheeled himself over to her side and took her trembling hand.

"Its okay, Ang." He whispered and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him and Denis rubbed her shoulders.

"I'll leave you two alone, now." Esto smiled and wheeled himself out of the room.

Once he left, Denis sighed and got up. Angelica watched him slowly. He went into her bathroom and came back with a glass of water. Quietly, he came up to her and handed her the glass. Shaking, she took it and gripped it tightly.

"In the morning we'll talk to Flint and Sam. Right now you should get some sleep." Denis glanced at her. Their eyes met and she looked down.

"Okay." She nodded and watched Denis get off the bed and leave the room.

xxx

The morning came soon and Flint woke up, when a pillow hit him in the face. Groaning, he opened his eyes and moved the pillow away. Sam stood over him, with her hands planted on her hips, but a playful smile on her face.

"Get up, Flint! Fran is crying." Sam smiled at him. He nodded and swung himself over the bedside and stood up. As he passed Sam, he kissed her as a way of saying 'good morning' and both of them walked out of the room.

Fran was crying loudly, but when her parents entered the room she stopped. Instead she smiled and watched her mother pick her out of her bed and her father kiss her on the nose. Fran Camille Lockwood had her mother's wide green eyes and her father's messy brown hair. She was now a year old and was just learning to smile. So she tried to smile at Flint.

When Fran couldn't smile, she clapped her hands once and gurgled out a string of baby talk. Flint laughed and Sam told him to go downstairs and make her some tea and him coffee, while she fed Fran.

"Sure thing." He then kissed Sam on top of her head and went downstairs.

Their house wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It was almost the same size as the one Flint used to live in with his dad. But this one was slightly smaller.

At least he lived on the same street as Tim. Then he could go visit his lab whenever he wanted. And Steve of course. Steve lived in Flint's lab, and Flint had to go there every day to feed him. But soon Steve would move into their house. Sometimes he'd bring Steve into his house, so he could get to know Fran. She was scared of him the first few times, but Flint thought that soon she'd get used to him.

The moment Flint entered the kitchen, the doorbell rang.

"Flint! Can you get that?" Sam called from upstairs.

Nodding to himself, Flint approached the front door and peeked in through the peep hole. There stood Angelica and Denis.

He opened the door and both of them came in.

"Good morning!" Denis replied cheerfully.

"Good morning!" Angelica smiled, "Nice outfit, Flint." She added and surveyed Flint from head to toe.

Turning red, Flint looked down at his white shirt and red with white polka dots boxers. Angelica and Denis just chuckled and then Denis shut the door before the neighbors saw.

Denis wore his usual. His navy blue jeans, with were fading at the knees and his red coach jersey with a big white '5' on the front and the words 'Coach Loquesto' on the back. Plus his white and black Nike high-top platform sneakers. His brownish-blondish hair was gelled upward and his green eyes glinted mischievously.

Angelica had on her 'non-work clothes' (she hated her work clothes which were a dark blue suit jacket and a dark blue suit skirt with matching dark blue high heels). Today she had on her dark jeans, a tight black T-shirt that read 'Don't question me.' and her black high heel boots. She wore a beige trench coat and a beige trench hat. But she called it 'just a coat'. If you told her it was a trench coat, she'd slap you in the face. She took off her sunglasses and slipped them into her trench coat pocket.

"So! Denis and I have decided that you and Sam need to go out for the day! You guys haven't gone out alone for a LONG time. We could babysit Fran for you." Angelica smiled and hung her coat and hat.

"I don't know guys… Let's see what Sam says." Flint scratched the back of his head and as if on the cue, Sam came downstairs with Fran in her arms.

"Oh! Hey guys! Where are Reg, Jag and Esto?" Sam grinned when she saw Denis and Angelica.

"Esto took up painting, so he's doing that. Jag went out to play football with Brent and Reg is doing some paperwork for me in the office." Angelica sighed.

Sam smiled and ushered everyone into the kitchen. Flint ran upstairs to change, when he saw that Sam managed to change. Angelica flopped into a chair and Denis sat down beside her. Sam put Fran into her high chair and went to make breakfast. While she brewed the coffee, Angelica glanced over at Fran.

Blinking, Fran looked back at her and clapped her hands happily. Angelica smiled. She wished Marie was still alive today. Sighing she closed her eyes and thought back to a similar day like today, long ago…

_The day was perfect. A blue sky, warm, breezy air and the sun wasn't too strong. Angelica was carrying one year old Marie downstairs into the kitchen. The kitchen in the house was large and had double doors in the back, which led right into the backyard. Smiling to herself, Angelica swung open the double doors and a warm breeze fluttered into the room. _

"_It's beautiful, isn't it Marie." Angelica sighed happily. _

"_Pock!" Marie cried out. This was how she said "Yes!" Laughing, Angelica kissed Marie on the top of her head and went to seat her in her high chair. _

_Stretching, Angelica went to brew some tea and get Marie's baby food from the cupboards. She was getting more and more used to being a mother. But she was only 21 for goodness sake! All her other friends were still in universities or finished early and were having fun. None of them had children. This was why she had to get all straight "A's", then the school let her skip 10__th__ and 11__th__ grade, because she was so smart that she had done all the courses in summer school. This also meant she graduated from the University of Swallow Falls early. _

_She also wasn't the only one who had skipped 10__th__ and 11__th__ grade. Albert Shelbourne decided to go on with her. She sighed and then narrowed her eyes. _

"_And where the hell is he?" she tightened her grip on her mug full of boiling tea. Quickly she glanced at Marie, before she stepped out into the hall and stood at the foot of the stairs, tapping her foot impatiently._

"_ALBERT SHELBOURNE! IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE, I'LL COME UP THERE AND POUR THIS WHOLE CUP OF TEA ON YOU!" she shouted. _

_She waited five, ten minutes. He didn't come down. So she stomped back into the kitchen and glanced at Marie. Marie watched her mother with wide eyes. Calming down, Angelica poured some dry cereal into a bowl and placed it in front of Marie to chew on for now. _

"_Eat, Marie. I'll go see what your father is up too." Angelica smiled at Marie and Marie mumbled something in baby talk, before Angelica ran upstairs. _

_The upstairs hallway was long and a bit creepy. The whole house was. Angelica's favorite room was the kitchen, since it was the cheeriest and the sunniest. The rest of the house was like a shadow. Their bedroom was the last room down the hall. Not bothering to be quiet, Angelica kicked the door open and stepped inside. _

_Then she saw him. Running around the room like a tornado. _

"_My tie! Where the—" he was crying out and he raced into the closet and then made it out of there even quicker. _

"_Why do you need your tie?" she demanded and crossed her arms over her chest. _

"_It's today! The day they interview me! Next week is the election for the Mayor of Swallow Falls!" he stopped running and glanced at his wife. _

"_Right. They'll choose you anyway. Your father was the Mayor. And then his father and his father. And your ties in the laundry basket. I still didn't wash it." Angelica grinned and watched him stop in his tracks. _

_She then walked out of the room, but he placed a hand on her shoulder. _

"_Is there another tie I could wear?" he asked and his eyes went wide when she turned to face him. _

"_In the closet. The left side, 2__nd__ shelf to the right, top drawer. The red one." She smiled and watched him race into the closet. _

"_Thank you, love!" he cried out. _

_But she was already heading downstairs with a smirk on her face…_

"Angelica! Hello? I already called your name like five times!" Denis waved his hand

in front of Angelica's face.

Blinking, Angelica snapped out of her flashback and saw Denis sat there in front of her. Sam was now sitting at the table with a cup of tea and Fran was doodling crazily on a piece of paper with a green crayon. Both were staring at Angelica. Turning red, Angelica looked at the cup of coffee in front of her and then took a piece of toast from the middle of the table and began to spread jam all over it.

"Angelica, I told Sam what we told Flint and she agreed to go out with Flint for the day and that we could babysit Fran." Denis explained.

"Oh! That's great!" Angelica smiled weakly and took a quick sip of her coffee.

There was an awkward silence at the table, until Flint came trampling down the stairs and entered the kitchen. He wore his usual. Black pants, orange t-shirt and his legendary lab coat. His hair as usual was not tamed, but all crazy. That's the way everyone like it. And of course his spray-on shoes glittered under the sunlight that poured into the room.

"Well! So what did Sam say?" he glanced at Denis and Angelica.  
>"You know I'm right here." Sam replied and Flint came over and sat down beside her.<p>

"I knew that!" he smiled and kissed her quickly on the lips, before he turned to see what Fran was drawing.

Fran was just drawing a bunch of squiggles, but her forehead was scrunched up in concentration, so to her it wasn't a bunch of squiggles. When she grabbed the brown crayon and drew some more, she grabbed the red crayon at the same time and drew with both. All the adults at the table watched her.

"Da!" she cried out and held up her picture.

"I think that's her way of saying 'done!'" Flint smiled at his daughter; who fluttered her picture in the air.

Fran then handed the picture to Flint and tried to smile. She was still working on her smiling. Gently, Flint took it and inspected it.

"What is it a drawing of, Franny?" Flint asked sweetly.

Everyone watched her. Fran looked at everyone and scrunched up her eyebrows. She was thinking hard about something. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them a few seconds later.

"Daddy!" she shrieked out happily.

No one said anything. They were all too amazed. Fran Camille Lockwood had said her first word. Gasping, Flint looked at the picture Fran drew of him and smiling softly, looked at Fran. She clapped her hands shrieked out happily.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" she repeated over and over. She seemed happy herself, that she had said her first word.

"I thought it'd be 'Mommy'. 'Daddy' seems harder to say. But I think she'll grow up to be like you." Sam leaned her head on his shoulder.

Angelica smiled to herself as she bit her toast. Today was going to be good day for everyone. Flint and Sam would go on a date, which they hadn't gone on for a long time. She and Denis will spend time with Fran.

"Hey, Denis!" she then remembered something and whispered to him.

"What?" he hissed and looked at her with his green eyes.

"What about my nightmare problem? You said we'd talk to Flint and Sam!" she whispered back.

"Later. Right now, let them stay worry free." Denis smiled and both of them glanced at Flint and Sam. Sam was now holding a giggling Fran in her arms and Flint watched happily.

This was peace. This was what Angelica wanted for a long time. She hoped it lasted that way.

But she what she didn't know, or anyone at the table, was that two pairs of eyes were watching them from the bushes outside. The bush was right under the kitchen window that was right next to the table.

"The missy thinks all is at peace." A gruff voice grinned.

"How do you know?" the other voice snapped. It was a rather familiar voice.

"I can read minds, dummy." The gruff voice snarled.

"Ah. Of course. I knew that." The familiar voice cackled.

"No you didn't, idiot! I'm reading your mind right now, Al!" the voice snapped.

"Listen, stop it, will you? My body is covered in steel casts and I have tubes running into my heart and brain. I'm already tortured enough!" the familiar man snapped.

"The doctors said the tubes will come out next week and the casts too." The gruff voice snapped back.

"Can we go now? This bush is uncomfortable to sit in." the familiar voice changed the subject.

"Fine. And we are never coming back here. Ever!" the gruff voice sighed and crawled out of the bush with the familiar man following.


	2. Chapter 2: What we find

**A/N: Okay, there has been a change in plan. I have decided to write this fanfic now (along with my HTTYD one) and start a fresh new one in September. The reason is that I came up with so many ideas for this fanfic, that I might forget them all by September. Then in September I'll start a new fanfic that has nothing to do with my previous CWACOM fanfic, so it's a fresh start. **

It had been a hard time for him. And very painful too. It was probably the worst year and 9 months for him in his entire life. The moment the dagger went into his chest, he knew he'd live. The moment he slumped to the ground and blacked out, he knew he'd live. The moment a familiar face appeared, he knew he'd live. But he had been very close to dying too.

Maybe the only thing that stopped him from dying was all Angelica's fault. He knew it was. But she didn't. He knew she didn't. If it weren't for her, he would have died when it was just him and the henchmen in the helicopter and he ended up crashing to the ground in that miniature jet. He could have died when the Air France plane crashed and killed most of the passengers. He could have died when Angelica stabbed him.

"Listen. I said we are not coming back here. Well, actually ye aren't. I might. You failed too many times." The man with the gruff voice snapped at Albert Shelbourne, who trailed after him helplessly.

"For goodness sake! Stop talking in Old English! And why can't I come back? They sucked out all the injection liquid out of my brain!" Shelbourne cried and followed the man. He knew who the man was. But he didn't want to reveal that yet.

"Shut thy mouth! It's my cover voice! So the police don't recognize my voice! And yes you still have some of that liquid in your mind. It just acts up at random times. Right now, your fine." The man snarled.

He spun around to glance at Shelbourne; who had collapsed on the ground. Rolling his eyes, the man came over and stood over Shelbourne. Then the man kicked the metal cast that was strapped around Shelbourne's chest. There were tubes under that cast, so when the man kicked it, Shelbourne sputtered.

"What are you doing? Help me up!" Shelbourne cried out and the man held out his hand. Shelbourne grasped it and got to his feet.

Once Shelbourne was to his feet, the man began to walk ahead in big strides.

"Thou art clever, Albert. But ye know nothing yet. We will all rise again and ye will become one of us." The man whispered under his breath, so Shelbourne won't hear.

xxx

"Franny, c'mon wave to mommy and daddy!" Angelica held Fran in her arms. They stood on the driveway with Denis and were waving at Flint and Sam; who were heading out for the day.

Flint and Sam had decided to take the boat to New York City and spend the day there. They promised to return after dinner. But Angelica told them to take their time and if they wanted to stay longer they wanted.

Fran watched her parents go, with her wide green eyes and then glanced at Angelica waving. Trying to smile too, Fran lifted her small hand and waved too.

"Denis! Fran is waving!" Angelica beamed and continued to wave, so Fran could copy her. When Flint and Sam were out of sight, Angelica sighed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

They went inside the house and Angelica went into the living room with Fran. Meanwhile, Denis was bored. He didn't really know what to do now. So he headed into the room where Angelica and Fran were sitting on the floor. Fran was stacking blocks. Angelica lay on her stomach and watched.

"Bored?" Denis smiled and sat down beside Angelica.

"Nah, you get used to it." Angelica smiled back and looked over at Denis. Then she sat up and leaned her head against Denis's shoulder.

"But damn, am I tired." She breathed out a sigh.

Laughing, Denis couldn't exactly imagine Angelica being tired. She never got tired. But this job had put so much weight on her shoulders, that she'd come home and fall asleep right in the kitchen. _Maybe she should quit._ Denis thought to himself and glanced down at Angelica.

"It can't be that bad, Angelica." Denis told her and she lifted her head off his shoulder and glared at him.

"Oh it's bad. I get there, do paperwork, yell at people, do more paperwork, yell at more people and do more paperwork. But it's mostly people yelling at me and I have to yell back. Practically everyone hates me there, Denis. Everyone sees me as Albert Shelbourne's wife. I'm not! I—" Angelica was crying out, but she was interrupted by a loud ringing.

Both of them glanced at each other. It was Angelica's cell phone from the hallway. After getting permission from Angelica, Denis got up and went to answer it. Watching Fran, but listening to Denis, Angelica sat there frozen. She knew perfectly well who the call was from. It was some stupid company that wanted to break down the Shelbourne manor and build something on its place.

She didn't know what they wanted to build on its spot, but she didn't want to know. No way was she letting them break down that place. It was not the house that she cared about, it was the basement and below that.

"Tell them they can't break it down yet!" Angelica called into the hallway.

Minutes later, Denis appeared in the living room. He told Angelica that the company was disappointed. But she didn't care. Instead she got up and picked up Fran.

"We'll be right back." Angelica told Denis and ran upstairs with Fran in her hands.

Denis blinked and heard stomping upstairs. He hoped nothing was wrong up there.

"Angelica! Are you okay up there?" Denis shouted.

"Fine! Coming!" Angelica shouted back and he saw her coming down the stairs. She was wearing one of those baby carrying pouches on her back and Fran sat in it. Fran looked excited, because she began to make loud noises and clapped her hands a couple of times.

"Uh, where are you going?" Denis demanded.

"Just put on your shoes." Angelica ordered and slipped on her black high heel boots and zipped them up. She didn't bother putting on her coat or hat. Just stepped out in whatever she was wearing. Then she slipped on Fran's sneakers and waited for Denis.

"I'll just assume that since we are bringing Fran along, wherever we are going can't be dangerous." Denis replied.

But the moment Angelica slipped her dagger out of her beige trench coat pocket, he didn't say anything. She pulled out a small leather pouch out of her other trench coat pocket and slipped the dagger into the pouch. Next she tied the pouch to her belt on her jeans.

"Let's go." She opened the front door.

Denis wondered where they were going. He kept glancing from Fran to the pouch with the dagger and instantly felt nervous. If it was just a stroll down Main Street, then the dagger would not have been needed. But the dagger just eliminated that option.

They did end up on Main Street and Denis relaxed. Maybe Angelica just brought it along for extra-protection. _But there are no more bad guys out there! Shelbourne is dead and so is Patrick and the League doesn't exist! _Denis thought in frustration to himself.

"Where are we going?" he finally asked.

"You'll see." Angelica said in a serious voice. She began to walk faster down Main Street, and Denis had to walk faster to catch up.

They came to a stop in front of the Shelbourne manor. The house loomed in front of them. The lawn had weeds and tall grass, the porch had broken boards and the door had yellow police tape all over it with the words 'CAUTION! DO NOT ENTER!' all over it. But Angelica didn't care for the front of the house. She walked around the house to the side. As Denis followed, he remembered what they saw last time they entered the house: cobwebs, dust, cockroaches in the expired food and spiders EVERYWHERE!

There was a small window on the side of the house. The window was at ground level, so it probably led to the basement. Instantly, Angelica pulled out her dagger and began to pry the window open.

"What are you doing? We'll get in trouble!" Denis cried and looked around worriedly.

"Get in trouble by whom? I'm the Mayor and I run this town." Angelica smirked at him.

"Oh yeah…" Denis trialed off. He constantly forgot that Angelica was the Mayor. She was just so calm and easygoing. _I guess I expected another evil Mayor._ Denis smiled to himself.

While Angelica pried the window open, Fran was watching over Angelica's shoulder with wide eyes. For a second she seemed scared, so she shrunk back in her pouch and held on to Angelica's T-shirt.

"We're going in." Angelica finally got the window open and slipped through it. Uncertain, Denis followed. Normally if he had a bad feeling in his gut, bad things happened. Right now he had giant butterflies cramped up in his stomach.

The basement they slipped into was dark, cold and the walls were coated with something slimy. It wasn't the type of basement where you'd keep a billiard table, a guest bedroom and an extra refrigerator. It was all empty down here. Just tall, gray pillars standing around the room, probably supporting the weight of the top floors. To Denis it looked like something from the Medieval Times. Like one of those dungeons. This was defiantly not 21st century.

Quietly, Angelica tiptoed across the huge room. Denis followed very close behind. If something slimy touched him, he was outta here. Fran didn't cry or do anything. She just pressed herself closer to Angelica and buried her tiny face into Angelica's shoulder.

"Uh, Denis? What is that?" Angelica pointed across the room to a lump lying on the floor. Sunlight spilled in from the window and poured onto the lump.

"I dunno." Denis shook his head.

Angelica clutched Denis's arm and they both approached whatever it was on the floor. Even Fran has the guts to peek out from behind Angelica's shoulder and glance at the lump on the floor.

At first Angelica and Denis can't exactly figure out what the thing is. But after a few seconds, Angelica realizes it's a body covered in layers and layers of cobwebs and dust. The body is almost not seen under all of it. Denis only realizes shortly. Fran just stares. Slowly, Angelica kneels down and Denis beside her. She pulls out her dagger and gently pushes away the dust and cobwebs to see who the dead person is.

It was hard to see who that person was at first. Maybe it was because the skin had turned pale and thinner and stretched over the body's bones so much, it looked too fragile to touch. On the face, there was a long deep cut on one cheek. It stretched from the temple to the chin. Then there was a bruise that took up the other side of the face. Dried blood caked her forehead. But the dried blood didn't even look like dried blood anymore. It was pressed hard into the forehead and looked like it was engraved.

"Oh my god." Angelica breathed out.

The body's lips were blue and the whole body was frozen when Angelica gently touched the hand. At that moment, she didn't even care about the main reason why she was here.

"Angelica? It's okay." Denis glanced at Angelica who looked close to tears. He hugged her, but was aware on Fran on Angelica's back. Fran glanced at the body too and she looked sad too.

"We should go." Denis then got up.

"No. Not yet." Angelica wiped a tear away and took the body's hand. The coldness from the body, sent chills and shivers down Angelica's spine.


	3. Chapter 3: Hearts beating

**A/N: If anyone is wondering about what the date is in this story is right now, it's May 2011. In the Epilogue of "All is not forgotten", it was May 2010 (when Fran was born) and now it's a year later. Plus, other than that I found pictures of some CWACOM movie deleted scenes. It's the one where the Mayor is attacking Flint with a celery stick and Flint fights back with one. Then there's a giant meatball scene with Flint and Brent. =)**

Right now, Angelica sat at the kitchen table with a mug of tea and box of tissues next to her. Denis sat beside her and just stared at her with wide eyes. Upstairs, Fran was taking her afternoon nap.

This was what had happened when Angelica and Denis had found dead Marie. There was a long ten minutes, of Angelica just sobbing. Then she unstrapped Fran and handed her to Denis; who buried her small face into Denis's chest. Gently, Angelica picked up Marie and they headed out of the house—through the front door.

It was taped shut, so Angelica had to kick it down. After, Denis told Angelica he was going to talk Fran home. Fran seemed spooked by seeing Marie and was now gripping Denis's shirt tightly. Angelica felt horrible for letting Fran come. If Sam and Flint found out, they'd never let Angelica take care of Fran again.

While Denis headed home, Angelica carried the body to the chapel, which was closer to The University of Swallow Falls. As she carried her daughter, people on the street would turn to look. But no one knew it was Marie. They were just wondering why the Mayor was carrying a dead body.

"Did she kill that girl?" someone hissed.

"Maybe she really is as bad as her husband." Someone else whispered a little too loud. Angelica heard them and spun around.

"I DIDN'T KILL HER! I FOUND THIS BODY! SHELBOURNE KILLED HER!" Angelica screamed and tears were once again pouring out of her eyes.

The people stopped whispering and Angelica hurried along. _If people don't trust me, then why did they all approve of me as Mayor? Geez, now I know how Shelbourne felt._ She grumbled to herself and saw the chapel ahead.

She didn't want a funeral. She and Denis should be the only ones to know about Marie. A funeral would cause too much attention. All she wanted was for Marie to be buried properly. That was all she asked for. When she saw that the chapel was closed, she knocked on the large wooden doors.

A priest opened the doors and blinked down at her.

"Ms. Oreant? May I help you?" he asked, but then he noticed the body in her arms and let out a small gasp.

"This is my daughter Marie Oreant. She was killed in the year 2003, and I found her body today. I don't want a funeral or for her burial to be public. Just bury her in the cemetery and I'll be happy." Angelica held the body out.

The priest took the body carefully and moved some loose strands of hair off Marie's face. He shook his head when he saw the girls face. He didn't ask any question. Peacefully, he nodded at Angelica. She sighed and watched him go inside the chapel and close the doors behind him.

So right now, there was silence in the kitchen. Heaving in yet another sigh, Angelica lifted her head and glanced at Denis. He was still staring at her with worried eyes. Silently, he reached out and grasped her hand that was on the table.

"Now, tell me. What was the real reason we went into that house?" Denis asked in a whisper and squeezed her hand.

Feeling awkward, Angelica slid her hand out of Denis's and wrapped both hands around her mug of tea.

"My lab is under that basement. I wanted to visit it, because I remembered about it when those people called today. If they destroy the house, how will I access the lab?" she asked and her eyes widened as she looked at Denis.

"What's it like down there? How many inventions have you built?" Denis suddenly grinned. He was trying to make Angelica start talking about her lab, so she could maybe get her mind off Marie for a while and perk up.

"It's a big lab. Maybe the same size as Flint's—or bigger. Then I have at least ten inventions down there. That's counting The Evil Injection Liquid. Some are as bad as the Injection Liquid. If Shelbourne managed to steal the Injection Liquid, then I bet he took a bunch of other stuff too! Oh God! NO!" she suddenly got to her feet.

"What? What's wrong?" Denis got to his feet too. He hoped these other inventions weren't worse than The Evil Injection Liquid.

"When Flint and Sam get back, we are going down there. I need to see what else he took. Because there is one in particular, which I guess could be worse than The Evil Injection Liquid. Because if he took that…" Angelica trialed off with a pale face.

Fear was nibbling at Denis like a mouse. His heart beat crazily. At first he took in what she just said, processed it through his mind and finally slumped in his chair. _What could POSSIBLY be worse than the Injection Liquid? _ He thought. Then he thought about one thing: why did Angelica make all this in the first place? He thought of a possible answer: after testing the Injection Liquid on herself, she went on and invented this horrid invention.

It was possible.

xxx

Right now the sun was setting over the horizon and Sam couldn't think of anywhere more romantic than sitting in front of a sun setting. She and Flint were sitting on a bench on Liberty Island, New York City. The Statue of Liberty was behind them. As they sat there, Flint edged closer to Sam and wrapped an arm around her.

She leaned her head onto his shoulder and breathed in the scent of his lab coat. It smelled like it had just come out of the laundry. Slowly, she turned her head to glance at the sun.

The sun wasn't exactly in front of them; it was a little off to the side. But it was good that way, because it wasn't shining too much into their faces. It was dipping down and the ocean in front off and was glowing a bright red glow and had glittering golden waves right under the sun.

"I'm glad Angelica and Denis let us go out today." Flint smiled and leaned back on the back of the bench.

"Yeah, last time we went out was before Fran was born. It was right after we defeated Shelbourne and when Angelica became Mayor." Sam nodded and closed her eyes. The heat of the existing sun rays shined down on her face.

Before the sun went down fully, Flint got up and pulled Sam up with him. They came to stand near the water's edge and Sam looked down. She wondered how deep the water was if you fell in.

But Flint didn't seem to be thinking about that. He pulled Sam close to him and looked deeply into her eyes. When he wrapped his arms around her waist, she settled her arms around his neck. The sun finally went down and Flint leaned in to kiss her deeply, before the last of the sun rays disappeared. He kissed her for a long time, and when they broke apart, she was gasping for air. Smiling, she pressed her forehead against his.

A loud horn broke them apart and both turned. Their boat awaited them back into the city. They followed a large crowd of people onto the boat and took their seats on the top deck.

"I wish this day lasted forever." She smiled and snuggled closer to Flint.

"Me too." He agreed and watched as the moon began to grow brighter and brighter in the sky. After a few minutes, the stars came out and twinkled overhead.

It was peaceful on that deck. It was mostly just young couples like Flint and Sam. All sat there with fingers entwined. All of a sudden soft music came out of nowhere. Flint and Sam turned to see that a small group of musicians were sitting on the deck, playing a slow song. Instantly, couples got up to dance.

"Maybe I have this dance?" Flint got up and held his hand out for Sam to take.

"You may." She blushed and took Flint's warm hand.

Both smiling, they came onto the empty space of the deck. Sam placed her left hand on his shoulder and with her right—took Flint's left hand. With his right, he placed it on the small of her back and slowly they waltzed down the floor.

A few small lights were turned on and they set off a gentle white glow on the faces of the dancers. The musicians went slightly higher in the key and the music became livelier. It moved its way gently around the couples and twirled its way around the way people waltzed. Flint kept right to the music and hadn't stepped on Sam's toes once. She was pretty good at it too.

"Where did you learn to waltz so well?" Sam asked and leaned in closer to him.

"I don't remember." Flint lied and looked down into Sam's emerald green eyes. A soft smile played on his lips and his blue eyes softened at her too.

But really he had learned to waltz back in 10th grade. I remembered the day well. It was Valentine's Day and in gym class the boys were forced to waltz with the girls. He and Denis both didn't have partners. He was forced to dance with Marie and Denis was paired up with some random girl. That was how he met Marie.

Closing his eyes for a second, he cleared the thought away. Marie was no longer here. But he thought about what would have happened if she still lived. All she had really done was kiss him on the cheek and hugged him a couple of times. Would things have gone further than just that?

"What are you thinking about? You look troubled." Sam asked looking up worriedly at Flint.

"Nothing, darling." He smiled and kissed her on top of her head. Then his lips grazed her ear and he kissed her on the lips.

They waltzed to the end of the song and applauded for the musicians; who bowed and left. Even if there was no music to fill up the air, there was the sound of the waves crashing against the boat. There was the soft murmur of people talking and the soft whistle of the wind.

The spell was broken, when Flint's phone began to ring.

_Flint you have a call! Flint you have a call! Flint you have a call!_

Everyone on the boat turned to glance at Flint and Sam. Some people glared, because the phone had interrupted the calm silence. Apologizing, Flint grabbed Sam's hand and they both went below deck. Down there, teenagers were dancing to loud, fast beat music. Groaning, Flint led Sam around the corner and finally answered.

"Hello? Flint Lockwood here." Flint spoke into the phone.

"Flint! Whoa! Is that music I hear? Sounds like a hot party!" Denis cried.

"Uh, yeah! What do you want?" Flint asked louder this time over the music.

"Oh yeah, right! Fran keeps asking for 'daddy' and is starting to get cranky. Angelica is trying to calm her down, but Fran just keeps on crying. When are you guys coming come?" Denis wailed. In the background, Flint heard the faint cries of Fran and Angelica talking sweetly to her.

"We'll be right there, Denis! Maybe in two hours!" Flint had to shout this time because someone cranked the music up to the highest.

"Two hours? That's so long! I can't take it anymore!" Denis replied loudly so Flint heard him.

"Well, Angelica used to be a mother! Let her deal with it for now!" Flint told him.

As if on the cue, Fran stopped crying in the background and began to laugh at something Angelica was telling her. Flint heard Denis sigh in relief.

"Oh thank god! Thanks Ange!" Denis said with relief and called to Angelica. Hearing that things were okay now, Flint told him he had to go.

Both hung up and Flint turned to Sam to explain what was going on. She just smiled.


	4. Chapter 4: Nightly Stroll to the lab

**A/N: I just want to say that the man who speaks Old English; he was mentioned before (in "All is not forgotten"). But he only lingered in that story for a few lines. So he's not new! And don't worry, I will try my best to answer questions that you guys ask. I do read every review, so don't worry. I'll answer a few in the next chapter's author's note =)**

Sliding back on the floor, Angelica gripped her dagger tightly. Her shirt had a slash at the waist, both of her boots were missing, and her hair was a mess, plus her face was coated with sweat. In her eyes, there blazed a wild fire. She wasn't ready to give up. Not yet.

"Ready to give up, missy?" the man in front of her flashed a toothy white grin at her.

"No way! This is just a dream, so if I get hurt it won't be for real!" she snarled and twirled her dagger between her fingers.

The man grinned. Angelica watched him closely. She couldn't understand who his idiot was. His face was all covered in a black ski, except for his eyes and his mouth. Even with that, she still couldn't recognize him. Then he wore black pants, black hiking boots and a brown leather jacket over a black T-shirt. What annoyed her was this was the second time she met him in her dreams.

"How do ye know?" the man sneered.

"It's a dream for goodness sakes!" she cried.

"Fine, but not only can I read minds, but I can also step into people's dreams. So I'm a real person who lives a normal life like ye. I just happened to walk into thy dream tonight." The man laughed.

"Listen, creep. Get out of here and leave me and my mind ALONE!" Angelica shouted and charged at him with her dagger gripped tightly in her hand.

However, when she was about to strike the dagger into the man's gut, he blocked her blow and punched her in the face. She screamed and flew back. There was a cry of pain, as she slammed into the wall.

_That's it, _she thought, _now I give up_.

"Ye give up? That's nice to hear." The man walked over to her and she watched him pull a cigar out of his pocket and light it. Smoke filled the air around Angelica and she coughed loudly.

"STOP READING MY MI—" she began to shout, but instantly she felt woozy and slightly dizzy.

She didn't know what was happening, but all of a sudden she woke up in her bed again. Her breath was coming out fast and sharp. _Calm down, Angelica. It was just another nightmare._ She told herself.

The more she thought about her dream, the more she thought about that man. For some strange reason he seemed so familiar, but yet so distant. She needed to figure out more about him and why he could read minds. Now that she thought about it, it scared her how a human could have such powers.

Sighing, she swung her feet over the side of her bed and stormed out of her room. Right next to her room was Denis's. She went in there and glanced around the room. The room had posters with football players on the walls, dirty clothes scattered on the floor, the desk was littered with old coke cans around his laptop and finally there was Denis sprawled on the bed with a _Sports Illustrated_ magazine over his face—fast asleep. Tapping her foot, Angelica glared at the mess and reminded herself to tell Denis to clean it up in the morning.

Right now she tiptoed over to Denis's bedside and sat down on the edge of the bed. Quietly, she moved his magazine off his face and his snoring got louder. Next she poked his cheek. Gasping, Denis's eyes fluttered open and he looked up onto Angelica's face, which was inches away from his.

"Wake up. We need to go somewhere." She got off the bed and went to stand at the doorway.

Groaning, Denis stretched and looked over at his clock on his night table. His eyes widened.

"Angelica! It's 2 in the morning!" Denis cried, but she made a loud shushing noise at him and motioned for him to follow. Before he left the room, Denis slipped into a pair of sweats and a hoodie over his white T-shirt.

Out in the hallway, they passed the henchmen's rooms and heard Reg and Jag snoring from theirs. Esto's room was quiet, so Angelica opened it and peeked in. Denis peeked over her shoulder. The room was lit up by the light of the moon spilling into the room. In the corner, sat Esto in his wheelchair. In his hand was a paint brush and in the other was a paint palette. The expression on his face was peaceful, but slightly sad. Slowly, he ran his paintbrush over his canvas.

"Esto? Denis and I are going to head out for a few minutes." Angelica told him softly.

"Okay, Ange." He whispered and glanced at her. His eyes were filled with tears and Angelica wondered what had happened. She had never seen Esto or any of the henchmen cry. But she left the doorway with Denis and gently closed the door behind her.

They headed downstairs and Denis didn't even question Angelica. When she slipped on her running shoes, he still didn't say anything. Just slipped on his.

"Aren't you going to be cold? It's chilly outside." He asked her and looked at her. She wore her plaid pajama pants and a black T-shirt.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." She told him and opened the front door.

Outside it was cold. The wind blew hard and shook the trees that stood between houses. The moon was full, though. It sent an eerie light onto the streets and was brighter than the streetlamps. It was as if it was morning. They walked down Main Street and Angelica saw that the streetlamps were turned off her. It was strange because normally they were turned on here.

"Angelica! Denis! Wait up!" came a familiar voice.

Startled, both turned around to find Flint running at them. He wore his normal clothes as if he hadn't gotten into bed yet that night. Behind him, Steve was running too. When Flint reached them, Steve hopped onto Flint's shoulder and they all continued down the street together.

"Where are you guys going?" Flint asked and slipped his hands into his jean pockets.

"Well… You'll see." Angelica stammered.

When Flint and Sam had gotten back earlier that night, Angelica and Denis just said goodbye and left. They hadn't mentioned anything about Marie or taking Fran with them to Shelbourne manor. Plus only Denis knew about Angelica's hidden lab. No one else. Angelica wondered what Flint would say when he saw her lab. Because that was where they were headed now.

Ahead was Shelbourne manor. Angelica noticed that Earl had taped the front door back on. She just hoped he hadn't touched the window into which they needed to get in through. When Flint saw where they had come, he didn't say anything. They crept around the house to the side, where the window to the basement was.

Unfortunately it was locked.

"Great. How do we get it now?" She shook her head. Sadly, she had forgotten her dagger at home.

"Steve? Can you open that window for us?" Flint then told Steve.

"Open! Open!" Steve grinned and hopped off Flint's shoulder.

Everyone watched as the monkey came up to the window and studied it for a few seconds. Then he did something with the lock on the window and happily pushed the window open. As he did, he fell inside and landed with an 'ouch'.

"Thank you, Steve!" Flint praise the monkey once they were all standing in the basement.

The basement was lit up by moonlight coming in through the window and Angelica was grateful for that. Without saying anything to Denis and Flint, she began to walk across the basement and passed a spot on the floor, where there was no dust and a few droplets of dried blood. Marie had lain there.

They came to the end of the room and Angelica smiled to herself. Memories were flooding back to her. But some of them weren't so sweet. She saw dark memories and remembered some of the bad things that happened in that lab after she tested The Evil Injection Liquid on herself. Of course she also remembered a lot of good memories too. That was before she created The Evil Injection Liquid.

"So why are we here?" Flint spoke up.

"You know how I used to invent things?" Angelica turned to glance at him and Denis.

"Yeah…" Flint trailed off and Denis nodded. Even Steve nodded, even if he didn't know what he was nodding for.

"Well we are at the hidden entrance to my lab." She smiled and Flint's eyes widened with excitement. Denis kept quiet, because he had remembered what Angelica had said the other day. About there being something worse than to Injection Liquid.

Taking a deep breath, she looked across the wall and located one stone in the wall. Carefully, she pulled the stone out of the wall and handed the giant wall stone for Denis to hold. Once she gave it to him, he realized it was only made of foam, and not real stone. Where the stone previously was, there was a small keyboard. Quickly, Angelica typed in the password and the stone wall in front of them began to rumble.

The wall parted and its way there was a steel door.

"Whoa. You built this entrance?" Flint gasped.

"Yep. All by myself." Angelica beamed.

"So that's why you don't want the house destroyed. It'll destroy the entrance too." Denis looked over at her.

"Yes. Shall we go in?" she asked, grinning. Both nodded.

Holding her breath with excitement, Angelica reached for the doorknob and slowly turned it. The door opened and they stepped into a dark room. Quickly, Angelica reached for the light switch next to the door and the place lit up.

"Oh my god…" Flint gasped and he grinned widely from ear to ear.

"Angelica… This is so, so—" Denis was trying to find the right word.

"Incredible." Flint was looking so amazed, that he looked ready to fall over.

The lab was really big. Maybe a bit bigger than Flint's. The room was even circular like Flint's. The floor was glowing a light blue glow and the walls were white. But not the normal white that you'd paint house walls with. It seemed to be glowing as well. Then there were blue stainless steel tables all around the lab. One side of the room had glass cases on the tables and the other side of the room had the tables filled with paperwork and test tubes filled with different liquids. A giant computer, similar to Flint's, was across the room. Except this computer was only one screen. There was a round table right in the middle of the room. It was also blue stainless steel. But this table was empty.

"Ah, it's good to be home!" Angelica spread her arms out as she glanced around. Then she saw her old lab coat hanging on a hook beside the door and she squealed happily and ran to get it.

"I hope she shows us her inventions." Flint told Denis. He nodded and looked around uncertainly. This was where he felt nervous. The part where they saw her inventions.

"Okay. Follow me and don't touch ANYTHING." Angelica explained to them and returned wearing her lab coat and carrying a sheet of paper.

They walked across the room and stopped at the glass cases.

"Okay. In the first case I have the very first invention I ever built. I built it when I was in 5th grade. It's the Homework Robot. Sadly the robot stopped working after processing too much work." Angelica gestured at the glass case.

In the case there was a human-sized red robot. It had human features, except it was red and wore a baseball cap on his head. On its feet were wheels. Flint and Denis came closer and stared at the robot with awe.

"I'll just read you guys the list of the rest of my inventions, and then I'll show you them." Angelica looked at the sheet of paper that she held.

"Okay." Flint nodded and turned away from the glass case with the robot. Denis looked up to look at her too.

"Here we go. There is The Shape-Shifter, Lie Trackers, Mind-Reader Patches, Laser Cube, Burner Gloves, The Evil Injection Liquid and Powder and then come the worst two. The Youth Ray and The Immortality Liquid." Angelica heaved a sigh and looked up from the paper to glance at Flint and Denis.

Both just stared at her with open mouths. Most of those sounded amazing, but deadly. Flint was still twitching nervously when he heard the last two. The Form-Shifter sounded deadly, even if he didn't know what it was. The Laser Cube, he had seen Angelica use before when she was with The League of DBTC. Otherwise he was speechless.

Then he looked past Angelica and gasped. Quickly Angelica spun around and saw that a few of the glass cases were broken and the inventions were missing. Not all, but most of them.

"Shelbourne." She growled and clenched her fists at her sides.


	5. Chapter 5: Transformation & Realization

**A/N: Okay! Some of you asked questions and I'll answer most of them. The ones I don't answer, I won't because they might give something away in the story. Angelica used the laser cube in Paris, France, when she captured Flint and his group near the dining area of the hotel. And the Old English guy isn't a good guy. Once I reveal who he is, you'll agree that it's good that Angelica tried to kill him. Plus if I were to put in a parallel universe, how would they enter it? The Time Machine is gone, remember? And don't worry everything else will just be explained further in the story =)**

They all stood there staring at the row of glass cases. Most of them were shattered into a million of pieces. Slowly, they approached the glass case after the Homework Robot and Flint read the label under the case. This was the Shape-Shifter. It looked sort of like one of those water guns you'd buy at some cheap store. But he knew it was twenty times deadlier than a plastic water gun. Angelica sighed with relief when she saw that this invention wasn't taken.

"The Shape-Shifter! You can change into any person or animal of choice. All you do is type in the name of the person or animal and point the gun and yourself. But if it's a person you must also type in the age. Once it zaps you, you immediately change into whatever you asked for." Angelica turned the dial on a lock to open the glass case.

Gently, she took the Shape-Shifter out and let Flint hold it. He took it and grinned from ear to ear. It was the same shape as a normal gun, except slightly bigger, a lot heavier and rounder along the edges. The invention was black with glowing green designs on the sides. There was a small computer screen and keypad o

"How do you change back?" Flint asked Angelica.

"Simple. Just type your name into the thing and zap it." Angelica smiled proudly.

Flint turned the invention over and saw a red sticker there that said "Tested. Safe to use." Smiling, he handed Denis the Shape-Shifter to look at. Then Denis asked Angelica if he could use it. Shrugging, Angelica smiled and told Flint to step back. Grinning mischievously, Denis typed in a name of a person into the side of the Shape-Shifter and the invention began to vibrate and hum quietly. Next, Denis pointed the invention at his chest and pulled the trigger.

A green beam of light filled the room and hit Denis right in the chest. He let out a scream of pain and Angelica gulped. The invention had not been used for ages, so the parts inside might be a little old. The whole room was blinded with the green light. Flint and Angelica had to cover their faces.

The light stopped shining and both uncovered their faces. Denis lay on the floor in a heap and green smoke swirled around him. Gasping, Angelica ran over to Denis and began to wave the smoke away. She lifted him by the shoulders and put one of his arms on her shoulders for support. But when the smoke cleared, Flint saw who Denis had transformed to and took a nervous step back. Angelica saw his look of alarm and looked down at who she was holding.

"AAHHHHHH!" she screamed out and instantly dropped the figure to the drop. Then she ran over to Flint and hid behind him. He looked back at her and then at the figure who Denis had transformed too.

Groaning, Denis staggered to his feet and glanced at Angelica. She looked pale and a little faint. So Denis came over to her and touched her shoulder. She was trembling so hard, Flint thought she would faint right on the spot. But her eyes locked right into Denis's, er, well not Denis's anymore and she reached out to take his hand. Flint just watched with butterflies fluttering around madly in his stomach.

Then she dropped the hand and took a step back with her eye twitching.

"So I transformed didn't I? Ange, you look like you just saw a ghost!" Denis laughed in the voice of who he transformed into.

"Don't you DARE call me 'Ange' in that body, Denis!" she then snapped and Denis blinked at her. Denis had transformed into Albert Shelbourne.

"Hey, Flint! Do I really look that scary-looking?" Denis/Albert grinned at Flint.

"Uh, not to me… But I think Angelica is going insane." Flint took a step back. He suddenly realized that Steve wasn't on his shoulder. The monkey had run off to hide somewhere the moment Denis transformed.

"Denis, change back!" Angelica pleaded and watched Denis/Albert dance around the room.

"Awww, c'mon. Just a few more minutes!" Denis/Albert shouted and tried to do a cartwheel, but couldn't since Shelbourne's arms weren't exactly made for cartwheels.

Angelica watched Denis/Albert as he raced past Flint and stopped in front of her. He just stood there thinking as he stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. Since he was in Albert's body, Denis realized that he could do things that he couldn't do as 'Denis', but as 'Albert'. So he looked at Angelica with a sly grin.

"Since I'm Albert and not really Denis, can I kiss you?" Denis/Albert grinned at her.

"WHAT? NO WAY! NO! NEVER! EEWWW! FLINT! HELP!" Angelica shrieked and began to run around the lab with Denis/Albert chasing her playfully.

But Flint just began to laugh as he watched Angelica run around screaming and Denis/Albert chasing her. Flint knew that he wouldn't really try to kiss Angelica. She'd seriously beat Denis to death once he transformed if he did. So, he grabbed the Shape-Shifter from the ground and quickly typed in 'Denis Loquesto'. Then he felt the invention vibrate and pointed it at running Denis/Albert. He pulled the trigger and something green flew out of the Shape-Shifter and hit Denis/Albert right in the side.

Denis/Albert froze and cried out in pain again. Angelica stopped running and stood to catch her breath. When she looked up, she said a thank you to Flint. They both approached the green smoke. Angelica knelt down beside the figure lying on the ground and poked it.

"Am I myself again?" Denis sat up and blinked at Flint and Angelica. He was Denis again. But he when he glanced around him, he saw that Angelica was really ticked off.

"Oh. My. God. I have nothing to say to you, Denis." Angelica looked back at him with a stern face. But then her stern look melted away and she smiled slowly and ruffled Denis's hair.

"But don't worry about it." She smiled and got up.

Blinking, Denis glanced at Flint; who was just as confused as Denis. Just a second Angelica looked really angered and now she was fine by it. Shaking his head, Flint was amazed who fast her mood changed. Or maybe that was just now. He knew that if she was angry, she stayed angry. Narrowing his eyes, he glanced from Angelica to Denis. But he shook it away and he and Denis went to see that next invention.

Angelica locked up The Shape-Shifter and came over to the next case. This case wasn't busted either. She opened it and pulled out two small squares that were smaller than her palm. Maybe slightly bigger than quarters. Then she pulled out a wristband.

"These little squares are The Lie Trackers. You throw them at a person and they stick to that person. Next you put on the wristband and when the person with The Lie Tracker tells a lie, the wristband vibrates." Angelica explained and put away the invention instantly. She didn't want to test it.

So she moved on to the next glass case. This case was busted. Glass was all over that spot and a few pieces were on the floor. The label was still there, though. It read 'Mind-Reader patches'. Angelica didn't say anything. She just shook her head sadly and moved on. The next case wasn't broken. The door was just open. The label here read 'Laser Cube'.

"That is lying on the floor, somewhere in Paris, where I left it." Angelica explained.

"Well, maybe you could create a new one." Flint suggested. He was hoping that if she created a new one, he could help.

"But what will I need it for, Flint? I'm not chasing anyone around the globe anymore or just chasing anyone. My life is just normal now." Angelica sighed and moved on to the next case.

This case was sadly busted up too. The label read 'Burner Gloves'. Angelica explained that they were normal gloves, except they were red, were made of some sort of special metal and had a small dial on each one. The dial let you change the gloves from burning anything at touch, or throwing fire. They were one of Angelica's best inventions, because they had worked the best.

The next three cases were all smashed. These glass cases seemed to have thicker glass on the case than the others. It was because these three were the deadly ones. Angelica explained that if they fell into the wrong hands, all would be bad. The first had contained The Evil Injection Liquid/Powder, which had been in Shelbourne's trench coat pocket. The second case had contained The Youth Ray.

"What does that do? Make you younger?" Denis asked and stared at the empty, shattered glass case.

"Precisely. The invention is shaped a bit like The Shape-Shifter, but instead of shooting yourself, you just press the tip to any part of you. You turn the dial on the invention of how many years you want to go back to. The good thing is, is that this isn't like a Time Machine, where your brain goes back to that time too. Your body becomes younger, but your brain stays the same. Let's say I want to make myself 24 years old like you and Flint. I'll have the body I had when I was 24 years old, but have a 44 year old brain." Angelica told them, smiling.

"That is so cool." Denis grinned and imagined Angelica as a 24 year old.

"How did you learn to build that?" Flint asked curiously.

"Well… ask yourself how did you build something so complicated as a Time Machine? I just kept on trying." Angelica replied and finally they came to stand next to the last case, which had been broken into.

It was the glass case that had held The Immortality Liquid. Instead of injecting yourself, you just drank a sip. The color was purple, instead of the nasty black like The Evil Injection Liquid.

"So someone broke in and took The Immortality Liquid, The Youth Ray, The Burner Gloves and The Mind-Reader Patches? That's not good at all." Flint winced and saw that Steve finally crawled out from under a table. The monkey saw that Shelbourne wasn't in the room anymore, and climbed up Flint to sit on his shoulder.

"It could only be Shelbourne. When we got married and I built this lab, I told him the password to enter the lab." Angelica sighed and covered her hands with her face.

"Hold it! So if Shelbourne got ahold of those, he could have drank The Immortality Liquid and could still be alive somewhere! Not to mention, now he's IMMORTAL!" Denis yelped and his eyes widened.

"But Angelica stabbed him in the chest, probably near his heart. He can't be alive. We saw him die." Flint reminded Denis.

"I did stab him near his heart and probably cut off one of the heart's tubes. But when we left he could have awaken and someone must have found him. If he really did drink the Immortality Liquid, then he'll still be alive no matter how many times I could have stabbed him. He'll just have some heart problems and a few brain problems, but once he's cured he'll be good as new." Angelica's face went pale.

"So no wonder he didn't die in that plane crash! Or any other time! He could do anything dangerous, knowing he can't die!" Flint gasped and now he felt scared. Shelbourne was still out there and he was unstoppable and unbeatable.

Unless Angelica thought of some brilliant idea, that could shut him down for good.

"This is my entire freaking fault." Angelica shook her head and glanced at Flint and Denis.

"Don't worry. We'll stop him. For now, let's go home." Denis smiled at her.

"Fine. And Denis?" Angelica looked at him.

"Yeah?" he raised his eyebrows at her.

"I'll still get you for changing into Shelbourne and trying to kiss me." Angelica told him and they all left the lab.


	6. Chapter 6: We see strange things

**A/N: No, the Old English Guy isn't Patrick =)**

When Flint entered his house, he saw that the kitchen was dark. Sam was already asleep upstairs. After he, Denis and Angelica left Angelica's lab, he had to run back to his and put Steve to bed. When he had entered his lab this time, he couldn't help but feeling a longing to invent something. He didn't care what, but his hands were itching to create something. But it was around 2:30 in the morning, so he had rushed home as quickly as he could.

Upstairs he crept down the hallway and into his and Sam's bedroom. Sam was curled up on the bed—fast asleep. He knew he couldn't change into sleep wear, because then he'd have to go into the dark closet. Going into the dark closet meant tripping over one of Sam's pairs of shoes. Tripping meant loud cursing. Loud cursing would lead to Sam waking up. Sam waking up would lead to questions like "Where have you been?" So Flint just hung his lab coat on the bedpost and crawled into bed next to Sam in his T-shirt and jeans.

"Where have you been?" Sam suddenly asked the moment Flint lay down and the bed creaked loudly.

"I'll tell you in the morning." Flint yawned and put an arm around Sam. Sighing, Sam buried her face into his chest. But she pulled back instantly.

"Why does your T-shirt smell like perfume?" she wrinkled her nose.

"Huh?" Flint cried and sat up in bed to sniff his shirt. It was the smell Angelica had drifting around her lab. Plus it was the scent of the Shape-Shifter smoke. To sum it up, it smelled like the perfume Angelica constantly wore.

"Don't play dumb, Flint. Who's this other girl?" Sam sat up and glared at him.

"All I did was go down to Angelica's lab with Denis." Flint glanced at her.

Her expression changed immediately and she relaxed. She trusted Angelica. Except she just never knew that Angelica had a lab. But Flint had promised to explain everything in the morning. Plus she could probably ask Angelica about it.

Yawning, she watched Flint pull off his shirt and throw it across the room, where it landed in the laundry basket. When Flint lay down, she finally cuddled next to him. Once again he put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. This was what he wanted. Peace. There was peace now. No crazy League chasing him, no Shelbourne, no crazy plane flights around the world and no falling from the sky.

xxx

A cool night breeze fluttered around ChewandSwallow that night. The Ratbirds loved it because it wasn't humid, like most night nowadays. But they still huddled on the rooftops in tight groups. Not because of the cool breeze. It was the presence of a certain person in the town.

On the edge of the docks there lay a tired, exhausted person. It was Albert Shelbourne. He lay there with his hands behind his head and his eyes looking over the starry sky. Not too far from him was the man who talked Old English from time to time. The man was pacing back and forth with a stern look on his face. He was very cross with something and looked like he was about to start complaining about something any minute now. On the other hand, Shelbourne was grinning as he stared up at the sky.

The few remaining drops of The Evil Injection Liquid inside him weren't that strong. They acted up at random times and then Shelbourne would be the monster he was known for. The man had to figure out ways to control The Evil Injection Liquid inside Shelbourne, before it grew inside him and took over his mind again. Right now Shelbourne was his normal, calm self.

"The sky is so beautiful tonight. I wish Ang—oh never mind." Shelbourne quickly shook his head and sat up. When he sat up he became dizzy and the tube that ran into his heart felt tighter.

"Drop the thought, Albert. She's not your wife anymore." The man stopped pacing and glared at Shelbourne.

"Well actually she is, because we never filed a divorce." Albert grinned at the man slyly and the man rolled his eyes.

Still smiling about it, Shelbourne lay back down and stopped feeling to dizzy. So he and Angelica were still a couple. Blinking, he stopped smiling and remembered how to her he's dead. _What happened even? All I remember is her stabbing me and then darkness. What have I ever done to her? _Shaking his head, Shelbourne felt seriously confused. _It's all that black liquid's fault. That was not me. This is me now! THAT WAS NOT ME! Was it? But I guess part of that was me._ He frowned and closed his eyes.

"I've been thinking about it." The man then spoke up. Opening his eyes, Shelbourne glanced at the man. He heard the man taking about some group, and about what the man planned. But he still was confused about who this man was. He thought he knew, but he was unsure. The man sounded familiar. The face was covered in that ski mask, so Shelbourne never really saw his face. But the voice. Where had he heard it?

"You've been after Flint and his team and you failed twice. But that's not what we need now. We just need Flint Lockwood and Angelica Oreant. Two great inventors. With them, I could have the greatest and most powerful inventions ever. I could become powerful!" the man replied and his eyes glittered hungrily with greed.

Shelbourne raised an eyebrow and thought about what the man had just said. It was all nonsense. It was not that easy to capture Flint. Angelica, maybe yes, but Flint was much too hard to capture.

"You're insane. How will you get them and how will they work for you?" Shelbourne sat up again, but groaned because his head got dizzy again and lay back down.

"Leave Flint Lockwood to me. You go after Angelica." The man smirked.

"WHAT?" Shelbourne roared and got to his feet. His head was throbbing and he began to see blue squares flash before his eyes. Getting up wasn't such a good idea. Neither was going to kidnap Angelica.

"You heard me. Get Angelica." The man snapped.

"How? Do you realize what you are telling me to do?" Shelbourne cried and shook his head, so the dizziness went away.

"You will do as I say or else. I'll get Flint and round up The League of TUIP." The man snarled and ripped up his ski mask.

Gasping, Shelbourne took a step back. The man in front of him was, was—Shelbourne could barely speak. Now he knew who that man was. Now he knew why he was talking Old English. Except their whole time on the docks, the man hadn't spoken one word in Old English. But that didn't matter. _How is HE here? What the hell is The League of TUIP? Was that the group of people he's been babbling about? WHAT DOES TUIP STAND FOR?_ Shelbourne thought.

Reading his thoughts, the man just grinned evilly.

"You'll find out soon enough. Just get Angelica." The man replied and slipped his ski mask back on.

xxx

It was pouring rain the next morning. Flint woke up and felt cold. Opening his eyes, he realized that Sam wasn't in bed anymore. Stretching, he got out of bed and walked sleepily into the bathroom. When he glanced into the mirror he noticed that his hair had grown. It was time he trimmed it, because it looked ridiculous. But he liked it this way and Sam didn't mind.

After washing up and putting on a clean white T-shirt, Flint made his way downstairs. In the kitchen, Fran was already being fed by Sam. She was really hyper this morning and kept bouncing in her high chair.

"Daddy!" Fran shrieked and outstretched her small arms at Flint.

Sam turned around and smiled at Flint. He gave her a kiss and she kissed him back deeper.

"Daddy!" Fran pouted, when she realized that she wasn't getting any attention. Flint and Sam broke away and both laughed. Then Flint kissed Fran on top of her head and she became happy again.

Sam went back to feeding Fran and Flint went to look out the kitchen window. It was raining harder and harder outside. Some of the bushes in the backyard were being flattened because of the rain. The noise it made was louder than any rain Flint had ever heard. It was as if a thousand bass drums were on the rooftop and were being pounded on.

_SLAM!_

"FLINT! SAM!" came a cry.

Alarmed, Flint ran into the hallway and saw Angelica standing there with wide eyes. Denis stumbled in after her. Sam even stopped feeding Fran for a second. Even Fran stopped bouncing. Quickly, Angelica shut the door and shook the rain out of her hair. Flint glanced at Denis and saw that his mouth was taped shut with duct tape.

"What happened?" Flint demanded.

"About what? The duct tape on Denis or the real reason we came here for?" Angelica asked. Flint said both. Nodding, Angelica walked into the kitchen, and grabbed Denis's arm as she went.

When she entered the kitchen with Denis, Sam just stared. Now was when she remembered that Flint had mentioned that Angelica had a lab. That he had gone to it last night. She wanted to ask Angelica about the lab, but there seemed more important things to be discussed. Sighing, Angelica slumped into a chair and motioned for Denis to sit down too.

"First of all, don't worry about the duct tape. I said I'll get Denis for what he did last night. So I duct taped his mouth for the day, made him clean his room and tomorrow he's doing all my paperwork in my office." Angelica smiled and Denis just glared at her.

Flint began to laugh when he remembered what had happened last night and about how Angelica managed to duct tape Denis's mouth. His laughter stopped, when Angelica glared at him. Only Sam just sat there, not understanding what everyone was talking about.

"Uh, what happened last night?" Sam asked and nervously looked from Angelica to Denis. Smiling, Angelica gladly told Sam every detail of what happened in the lab and about her inventions.

The reaction that Sam had after all that was shock. The inventions sounded dangerous to her. But she did chuckle at the part where Denis turned into Shelbourne and ended up chasing Angelica.

"Now for the real reason that we are here. There are a few things. First, after Denis and I left home last night, I thought I saw Brent wandering around. This morning we stopped by his house to see if he was okay, and his whole house was a mess! It looked like someone had trashed it. It seemed like Brent wasn't in the house for a few days now. Secondly, after Denis and I went home, I went out for a nightly walk, alone. But that's not the thing. I felt like someone was following me. I think I was imagining it, but I kept on hearing someone whispering my name. Lastly, today morning, we couldn't find Esto, Reg and Jag anywhere! I tried calling them, but they won't pick up! Something I going on, and I don't like it." Angelica told Flint and Sam.

Biting his lip nervously, Flint did find those things rather strange. Brent walking around town alone at night, someone stalking Angelica, and Esto, Reg and Jag have disappeared. Esto couldn't have gone too far in his wheelchair, especially in this rain. In fact, Esto never went outside when it was slippery and wet.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Flint shrugged.

"No. Something is going on." Angelica argued.

"What then?" Flint demanded.

Slowly, Angelica pulled her wallet out of her pocket and slid it across to Flint. Confused, he took it and opened it. Inside there was a photo. It was a glossy photo that was a bit burnt around the edges. It was a photo of a laughing couple.

"I found that yesterday on my walk, near the docks. He's alive." Angelica took the wallet back.

It had been a picture of Angelica and Albert.


	7. Chapter 7:Angelica says goodbye

"Okay, let me get this straight. I just kidnap Angelica and that's it?" Shelbourne demanded into his cell phone. He wondered whether he should maybe inject her or knock her out, before getting to her. She wasn't going to be easy to get to.

"Yes. And no injecting or knocking her out. I want her alive and healthy." The man snapped as he read Shelbourne's thoughts.

Angrily, Shelbourne glared at the phone in his hand. He couldn't understand how the guy managed to read his mind through a _phone conversation_. It didn't seem possible, but then again, neither did mind-reading. Shelbourne remembered that all this mind-reading was Angelica's fault. She was the one who had invented the Mind-Reading Patches. But it was his fault for breaking into her lab and stealing that and a couple of other inventions.

"Remember we only need Flint and Angelica. Sam and her daughter will not be touched or hurt. They have nothing to do with this." The man reminded Shelbourne, before hanging up on him.

Groaning, Shelbourne continued to stand in the rain. There was nowhere else for him to really go. He had no home, no one to turn to and pretty much nowhere to go. Sighing he just stood there in the rain and watched giant puddles form around him.

xxx

There was a strong silence between everyone in the kitchen. Angelica was ripping up the photo she held in her hands, Flint and Denis just watched her, and Sam continued feeding Fran her baby food. Finally, Angelica moved back in her chair and the chair screeched across the tiled floor. Slowly she got up and everyone turned to watch her.

"I'm going." She looked down at the ripped pieces of the photo in her hands. They fell from her hands and landed in a small heap on the table.

"Where?" Flint asked and watched her step away from the table.

"Away from here. I can't stay here any longer. If Shelbourne really did break into my lab and really did drink The Immortality Liquid, then he's still out there. And I'm pretty sure he'll want revenge. He'll be after me, and will probably want me killed. I have to leave, so that he could kill me somewhere without hurting any of you." Angelica's eyes began to tear up as she glanced at everyone in the room.

Flint and Sam had gone through too much. Sam was kidnapped by Shelbourne twice and Flint had suffered too much while going out to find her. It had to be done. Angelica knew she had to leave. Her eyes fell on Fran; who was happily eating each spoon Sam fed her. There was no way Fran was going to be involved in any of this. Fran was going to grow up to be a wonderful girl, and Angelica hoped that she did. Shelbourne will never come across Fran and Angelica will make sure he won't. _Over my dead body._ Angelica thought angrily in her mind.

"Angelica, no. What about your lab? What about your job as the Mayor of this town? You said that we will all live in peace now and live normal lives. Forget Shelbourne. If he comes, we'll fight beside you." Flint stood up too.

Wiping away a tear, Angelica glanced at him and saw Sam slowly nodding at Flint's words. Denis was nodding too. He also looked desperate to say something. Sighing, Angelica strode over to him and ripped the duct tape off his mouth. His eyes widened and he touched his lips. She crumpled up the duct tape and threw it into her pile of the ripped up photo.

"You can't go, Ange." Denis shook his head slowly and moved his hand away from his mouth. His lips were red from where the duct tape was.

"I have to. But I'll come back. I'll make an announcement that I need someone to be Mayor while I'm gone." Angelica sighed.

"Use the ChewandSwallow weather station, and ask them to broadcast the announcement." Sam told Angelica.

Nodding to herself, Angelica went out into the hallway. Before she left, she lifted her hand to wave goodbye. Flint slowly raised his hand and waved sadly. Sam waved too. No one smiled. Only Denis stood there not moving. His eyes were wide and he looked like he either wanted to rush over and hug Angelica, or he would either start crying. And Denis hardly ever cried. That last he had was when his favorite football team lost at the Super Bowl. Then he remembered the Youth Ray and his heart skipped a beat. _Someday._ He thought to himself.

So he ended up walking over to Angelica and giving a big hug. She was surprised by it, but hugged him back. Her eyes welled up with tears again and she let go of Denis. His eyes were welling up too.

"If I die, I want you guys to protect my lab. The password is 4387." She replied and without looking back, left the kitchen and out the front door. Her heart was screaming at her as it broke in two…

The first thing Angelica had done was broadcast her announcement at the weather station and then hurried over to her lab. She wore her beige coat and her dagger was hanging from her belt in its pouch. At her lab, she slipped the two Lie Trackers into her coat pockets. Then she stood there staring at the Shape-Shifter. It was best if she left it here. Flint might need it if Shelbourne came. It could come in handy.

Next she hurried over to the City Hall. Already there was a line of six people waiting to be interviewed to be Mayor while she was gone. She talked to each person and she could tell from the moment they sat down, whether she should choose them.

Five of these people were five troublesome students who looked like they were in their early twenties. They said their names were something like Amy, Jacob, Lydia, William and Kalina. She knew they'd just turn the whole town upside-down and sent them away. They walked away laughing and she heard whispering about how maybe they could wear disguises and try to be interviewed again.

The last person was a nervous man. He sat down and Angelica crossed one leg over the other and twirled her pencil in her fingers. In her other hand she gripped a clipboard. Then she glanced up at the man and smiled warmly. He just blinked at her. When she put down her pencil and held out her hand he shook, and this time smiled. He even shook her hand longer than needed. Angelica didn't seem to mind this.

After all the hand-shaking, Angelica glanced up at the man. His face was covered in scratches and had soaked black hair and bright green eyes. Immediately, Angelica noticed that the green eyes were colored contacts and the hair was dyed. She saw that his hair had a few brown streaks on top of his head. And he was short. But she didn't mind it. He wasn't too short. She predicted she was maybe an inch or two higher than him.

"My name is Angelica Rita Oreant. I'm the Mayor of this town and I need to head out on a business trip for a while. I need someone to substitute while I'm gone. What's your name, sir?" She smiled at him and he cleared his throat.

"Uh, my name is Alan Shel— I mean Alan Rigenback." The man stammered.

"So Mr. Rigenback, do you have any other professions now?" she asked and glanced down at the clipboard.

"No." he shook his head.

"Are you married?" she asked and leaned back in her chair.

"Uh, yeah." He stuttered.

It went on like that for a couple of minutes. Angelica seemed to see that the guy was a strong speaker, after a few minutes of stuttering. He made eye contact and she knew this was important if he ever had to attend a meeting while she was gone. He had answered all the questions talking about previous jobs, where he graduated from, etc.

After her final question, she clasped her hands together and nodded to herself. He seemed like the perfect person. When she looked up at him, he was blinking back at her. Turning red, she looked back down at her clipboard.

"You shall be the substitute Mayor while I'm gone, Mr. Rigenback." Angelica replied and refused to look up.

Seeing his chance Albert knew that he had to get Angelica now. He would capture her and become the substitute Mayor. Or course since Angelica would never return to her job, he'd be a permanent Mayor. Again. And no one will ever know.

Smiling to unpleasantly to himself, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small dark blue smoke bomb he had used a lot back with the League and when he was known as 'the man in the dark blue trench coat'. But this bomb was loaded with smoke that put you to sleep. He had changed it to that, and figured the marinara sauce scented ones were just ridiculous. Once Angelica dropped to the floor asleep, he could kidnap her. Plus he could report that he was now the Mayor of this town.

"Angelica? I'm sorry to do this." Albert slipped the small smoke bomb out of his pocket and held it in front of him.

But the moment those words left his mouth, Angelica realized who he was.

"ALBERT?" she cried and looked up from her clipboard.

She hopped to her feet and the clipboard clattered to the ground. So did the pencil. Her eyes traveled to the smoke bomb and she smiled to herself. But when her eyes met his, her daze hardened. In a flash, she whipped out her dagger.

"You can't kill me. I'm immortal." He sneered.

"Yeah, I figured that out." She nodded and took a step forward.

With a swipe, she knocked the bomb out of his hand. But she thought it was the marinara sauce bomb. The moment the bomb hit the ground, a light pink smoke left a small hole at the top of the smoke bomb. When Angelica sniffed the air, she began to feel dizzy.

"You won't get away with anything." She snarled, but her eyes were closing. Instantly, Shelbourne covered his nose with his hand and caught Angelica with the other, before she fell to the ground. Quickly, he laid her gently on the ground and ran to the windows to open them up.

Once the windows were open, the pink smoke was aired out and Shelbourne uncovered his nose. Quietly, he came over to Angelica and knelt down to pick her up into his arms. He picked up her dagger along with her and slipped it into her pouch. For a whole ten minutes he just stood there, holding her sleeping form in his arms.

Finally he reached down into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He dialed the man with the false Old English voice and then positioned the phone between his shoulder and ear. The man picked up at the second ring.

"Hello?" he asked in his gruff voice.

"Uh, this is Albert. I have Angelica. She's asleep." Shelbourne replied.

"Where are you?" he demanded.

"The Mayor's office in City Hall." Shelbourne told him.

"I'll be there to collect her." The man said and hung up.

Shaking his head, Shelbourne sat down on the ground and laid Angelica on the floor again. His eyes just couldn't leave her. Once upon a time they were happy. It was all her fault.

Shelbourne didn't feel it, but the injection liquid in his brain was ready to act up right now. It bubbled in there and then zapped part of him. Instantly his eyes changed from loving to evil. His mouth curled into a menacing smile. When he looked down at Angelica, his mind boiled with the injection liquid. Evil and frightening thoughts entered his mind.

"She stabbed me. She abandoned me. She destroyed me." He growled and reached to get the dagger from her belt. Once the handle made contact with his hand, a familiar fire blazed in his eyes. _That's it. She is going down._ He thought and grippe the dagger tighter.


	8. Chapter 8: Kidnapped and New Mayors

**A/N: Just because Angelica said no to the teens about being Mayor, that doesn't mean Albert will! =D And I'm sure by the end of this chapter, you'll be able to guess who the Old English guy is!**

The dagger hovered over Angelica's throat. Shelbourne was about to bring it down on her, but suddenly he heard a snapping noise and spun around. The window was open and the rain was coming into the room. The curtains billowed and snapped against the windowpane. He narrowed his eyes and wondered who could have opened the window. It had just been closed a mere second ago.

"Ah HA!" came a cry and Shelbourne felt the dagger knocked out of his hand. He turned back around and saw that Angelica was awake and stood with her dagger gripped in her hand. She twirled it at him and her eyes flashed at him. Shelbourne wondered why the sleeping smoke only lasted for so little.

Suddenly something snapped inside him. The Injection Liquid that had smacked his mind into evil form was now draining away back into its hiding place at the back of his mind. It was happening so fast that Shelbourne cried out and covered his eyes with his hands. He knelt down on the floor and rocked back and forth muttering things under his breath.

"Get UP!" Angelica shouted at him and continued to point her dagger at him.

"Huh? What? Where am I?" Shelbourne blinked at looked up at her in confusion.

"What is wrong with you? You were just pointing a dagger to my throat and put me to sleep before that!" Angelica snapped at him and came closer. She ripped her hair elastic out of her neat bun and her wavy hair fell around her shoulders. Now she wasn't kidding around. Then she kicked off her painfully tight high heels and stood there gripping the dagger in her hand even tighter than before.

Shelbourne blinked at her with confusion. He had nothing. No gun, no weapon. His trench coat had been shredded to pieces in Tokyo, and that contained his gun. But he didn't even understand what was going on. His wife was going to kill him, but he knew that he was immortal. He'll probably just get greater damage and maybe pass out again, but that was it.

"Albert! What the hell is going on here?" came another voice and this time the man with the false Old English voice scrambled into the room through the open window. Except he didn't talk Old English anymore, and Shelbourne understood why. The reason tied around who the man was.

"YOU?" Angelica suddenly cried out and took a step back when she saw the man.

Her eyes widened the moment she realized that the guy was the same mind-reader guy from her dreams. When she remembered how they had fought, and how he almost killed her, she began to freak out even more.

"Yes it's me, _Rita_." The man sneered.

"Don't call me by my middle name!" she shouted at him.

But the man just smirked and then pulled off his black ski mask. Then he glanced at her with a wicked smile. The reaction that Angelica had on her face was of pure shock, fright and a bunch of other different emotions mixed together. She held her breath and then glanced side-ways at Shelbourne for an explanation. _He has to do something with this! How did this $$hole get here? _She screamed in her mind. This guy was a million times WORSE than Albert Shelbourne will EVER be. He was much too dangerous to have around. Back in the 80's he had done so many horrible things that Angelica remembered each and every one of them. Of course he disappeared one day and no one really heard of him. Some had said he died of lung cancer (because of smoking cigars too much) and some say he committed suicide. But here he was, standing a few feet from Angelica.

"Speechless? I thought so!" the man cackled and pulled the ski mask back over his head.

"What is going on here?" Angelica then demanded and looked from the man and then to Shelbourne.

"You'll find out soon enough." The man replied and pulled out a similar smoke bomb like Shelbourne's out of his pocket and smashed it to the ground.

This time, Angelica held her hand over her nose and watched the pink sleeping smoke curl and wind around the room like a snake. Shelbourne and the man immediately covered their noses as well. The man saw her holding her face and pulled his own dagger out his pocket. Narrowing his eyes, he pointed it at her and she held her own dagger in front of her. But with a sharp flick of his wrist, he dislodged the dagger from her hand and it clattered to the ground. Before she could pick it up, he slashed out his dagger at her hand covering her nose. The dagger made a nasty cut and she removed her hand away from her nose to inspect the cut.

Bad idea.

The moment her hand was away, the smoke slithered around her and in second she fell to the floor with a thud. This time no one caught her as she fell. Meanwhile, the smoke became weaker and very soon it disappeared out the window once again. Both Shelbourne and the man uncovered their noses.

"Okay, I'll drop her into the bag and take her; I'll see you down on Main Street." The man nodded and pulled out a large wool potato bag. He and Shelbourne carried Angelica into the bag and then the man swung the bag over his shoulder and disappeared out the window.

As soon as the man left, Shelbourne remembered that he was to become Mayor this town. Well at least a substitute for Angelica. But now he couldn't. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't. Sighing, he opened the door to the Mayor's office and stepped out into the hallway.

Out there, stood three girls and two guys in their early-twenties. They all watched Shelbourne step out into the hallway. When he asked them if they were waiting to be interviewed to be Mayors, they all nodded at the same time.

"Well, I'm supposed to be Mayor, but I quit. You guys can have the job." Shelbourne told them and stomped off down the hallway.

"YES!" they cheered and instantly all five ran into the Mayor's office.

Except when they entered the office they found it empty. Angelica wasn't there and the window was wide open. One of boys found a dagger on the floor and picked it up. Another boy went to hack into the Mayor's computer. The girls went to start a fire in the fireplace and then one ran to shut the window.

"Okay, what do we do first?" one of the girls asked and began to bring her hands close to fire for warmth.

"No paperwork!" the boy dealing with the computer grinned and everyone nodded.

"How about we write out a bunch of rules and then read them at a town meeting we could hold when the rain stops?" the other boy suggested and inspected the dagger he had picked up.

"No homework for the schools while we are Mayors of this town!" one of the girls cried out.

"Fireworks every night!" another one of the girls called out.

"We could repaint the town!"

"Change the name of the town!"

"Install a roller coaster in front of City Hall!"

"Have rollerblade races and give out the Mayor's money as a prize!"

"Remove Shelbourne manor! That house gives me the creeps!"

"Have no school on Fridays!"

"Make it rain food again!"

"Make all parents remove all teen's bedtime curfews!"

It went on like that for another whole hour of all five of them shouting out rules that they'd make for the town. Each and every rule was written down and eventually typed up and printed out. There turned out to be at least three pages worth of rules. Once they were all done, all just sat there talking and watching the rain patter against the window.

"So where is Mayor Oreant?" one of them asked.

No one said anything.

xxx

The rain fell and fell harder and harder. It was also making everyone sleepy. Right after breakfast, Fran fell asleep in her high chair. Denis sat at the kitchen table watching Fran sleep. His head was lying on the table with his cheek pressed to the cool tabletop and he sadly blinked back tears. All he could think about was that Angelica could be somewhere out there and she could be in danger.

She had said that she felt like someone had been watching her while she had been taking her nightly walk that night they had visited the lab. Plus Brent was wandering around and now the henchmen were missing. Denis was convincing himself that they were probably off playing football somewhere. _Except it pouring rain outside and Esto is in a wheelchair!_ Denis thought in alarm and then hopped to his feet.

"Flint! Sam!" he whisper-shouted as he ran out of the kitchen and stood at the foot of the stairs. They had both gone upstairs. Denis didn't want to go up in case he interrupted something.

"What?" Flint stood at the top of the stairs.

"I'm worried. Not only about Angelica, but about the henchmen too. Maybe Brent too." Denis told him.

Flint was quiet for a moment, but then said he'd be right back. In a minute he returned wearing his lab coat. After he came down the stairs, Sam came down too. Sam watched as Flint motioned for Denis to follow him.

"We need to find Brent first. He might have answers." Flint replied and began to put on a raincoat. Denis didn't have a raincoat. He just had his hoodie and then slipped on his platform sneakers.

Without taking an umbrella, they both left the house. The rain beat down on them as they ran down the street to Brent's house, which wasn't too far away. Brent's car was in the driveway, so Flint figured he might be home. The front door wasn't locked and they knocked.

No one answered, so they walked right in.

The inside of the house was dark and really cold as if no one had been in the house for days. There was the smell of stale food that hung in the air. Flint located the light switch on the wall and flicked the lights on. The room they stepped into turned to be the living room. Across the room was a hallway and then a kitchen that was visible from the living room. The living room was neat, except for a few stains on the couch. What scared both Flint and Denis was that the TV was on. It was on the weather news channel and because of the heavy rain, the TV kept on switching on and off. Finally, Flint came over and shut off the TV. Silence filled the house.

"I don't like the silence. Someone or something might jump out." Denis came over to Flint and stood beside him with a pale face.

"You watched too many horror movies." Flint rolled his eyes.

But the moment he said that the lights flickered off and Denis began to whimper like a girl. Even Flint began to feel a bit afraid. He told himself it was just the power being knocked out. Meanwhile, Denis was ready to scream. He was shaking like a spooked rabbit and kept on glancing around through the darkness.

"That couldn't have been the power being knocked out. Someone turned out the lights using the switch." Flint suddenly told Denis.

"Please tell me you're kidding!" Denis moaned.

"Shhh!" Flint shushed at him.

There was a creaking noise coming from the kitchen. Someone was in the kitchen. Flint knew it wasn't Brent, because Brent wouldn't have done that. He would have yelled "Gotcha good!" by now. But Brent's voice wasn't the sound. It was something scraping against a countertop.

Suddenly they both heard footsteps coming into the living room. Denis was shaking and Flint was too by now.


	9. Chapter 9: Caught

**A/N: Yes I know about all the government stuff and how to be Mayor, but the teens are just being substitutes. It's not permanent. But don't worry it'll be dealt with =) Plus in this chapter you find out a little about what going to happen to Angelica and Flint (a part of it).**

The footsteps faded away and then Flint and Denis heard them again in the kitchen and then trudge down the hallway. They vanished and the house was quiet once again. Something creaked and Flint knew it was a chair. But then he felt the room turn really cold. As if all the warm air had been sucked out. By now he was as scared as Denis was. There was someone in the house and now it wasn't funny. All he knew was that it DEFIANTLY wasn't Brent.

"Flint, can we leave? I think I'm gonna die from fear. This house makes too many noises." Denis whimpered in a small squeaky voice.

"First of all, it's not the house that's making the noises. You should really stop watching Paranormal Activity when your home alone. Second of all, stop being so freaked out. I'm scared too, but not that scared as you!" Flint hissed.

"First of all, Angelica made me watch that movie. Second of all, I wasn't home alone. Angelica was upstairs. Third of all, you don't know who is creeping around this house. For all we know it could be a murderer or someone like that." Denis hissed back.

Flint rolled his eyes. But he remembered that time when Denis was watching that movie. Angelica told him what had happened. It was on Halloween Night. She told Denis to watch it, so she bought the DVD for him. Then she told him she was going out and pretended to leave the house, but really hid in her room. After Denis watched the whole thing, he went upstairs and Angelica kept freaking him out with creaking and snapping noises. After she painted her dagger red and half her face and hands with red paint and walked into his room to sneak up behind him. Angelica told Flint that Denis probably screamed for at least three minutes and his scream sounded too much like a girls. The expression on his face was priceless. When the sequel to that movie came out, Denis sat in the movie theater, gripping Angelica's arm throughout the whole movie like he was some little kid or something.

For a few seconds, Flint smiled at that memory but his smile faded just as fast as it came on. This wasn't any movie. This was real. Slowly he grabbed Denis's arm and dragged him after him. They walked into the kitchen and Flint dropped his arm. Goosebumps crawled up and down his arms and suddenly the kitchen lights flicked on.

"AAAHHHH!" Denis screamed and ran out of the kitchen.

The moment Denis screamed the lights in the kitchen flicked off again and Flint could have sworn he saw a hand touch that light switch. They walked back into the dark living room and Flint rummaged in his coat pockets for something to throw at the person doing all these light tricks.

"Flint. We. Are. Leaving. NOW!" Denis pulled Flint's arm nervously.

"WHO'S THERE?" Flint ignored Denis and shouted out.

Of course there was no answer. Instead Flint heard something smash against the floor and then he heard a hiss. Denis was now pulling Flint's arm harder. But his grip loosened and Denis's arm released Flint's. Some kind of smoke tickled Flint's nose and his waved his hand around himself. There was some kind of smoke floating around him. He tried to figure out was it was, but the moment he inhaled; he fell to the floor with a thud. Denis soon swayed and fell down too…

The lights were on in the living room, when Denis opened his eyes. Groaning, he got to his feet and glanced around the room in confusion. _What in the world happened to me?_ Denis thought. Blinking, he soon realized that Flint wasn't there either.

"Flint? FLINT!" Denis hollered and surveyed the room with his eyes.

No answer.

Turning pale with fright, Denis ran out of the living room and to the front door of the house. He heaved the door open and ran outside.

It was still pouring rain. Denis didn't care. He ran as fast as he could all the way to Flint and Sam's house. He needed to tell Sam that Flint was gone and what they had heard in the house, before they had fainted to the ground. When he had reached the front door, he knocked on it loudly. Sam opened up and raised an eyebrow at Denis; who was soaking wet.

"What happened to you? And where is Flint?" Sam demanded and let Denis inside.

Denis kicked off his sneakers and followed Sam into the living room, where Fran was building a house out of blocks for her teddy bear. When Fran saw Denis, she lifted her hand and waved just like Angelica taught her. Smiling, Denis waved back at her and lay on his back on the floor. Sam sat down on the couch.

Slowly, Denis told Sam everything that happened at Brent's house. He told her about the lights turning on and off and how they heard footsteps. Next he told her about the smoke that was let into the room and he and Flint fell to ground for a few minutes.

"It felt like we were asleep." Denis sat up and glanced at Sam. She was catching onto every word with a nod of her head.

"Was it cigarette smoke?" Sam asked.

"No! It had this sweet smell to it. Once we inhaled it, we fell to the floor. But when I woke up, Flint wasn't there anymore." Denis cried and waved his arms dramatically.

"What do mean 'wasn't there anymore'?" Sam demanded and leaned in from her seat a bit. Her eyes filled with worry as she searched Denis's eyes for an explanation.

"Not there. Gone. I tried to call his name, but he didn't answer." Denis said quietly.

Holding her breath in nervously, Sam whipped out her cell phone and speed-dialed Flint. She pressed the phone to her ear and held it with one shaking hand. A few seconds later, she snapped the phone shut and looked over at Denis with a worried face.

"It keeps on saying the call could not be made. The second time there was static." Sam replied and stared at Denis for an explanation.

"I dunno." Denis shrugged and wondered where Flint could have gone.

"Well, since Angelica went away, the henchmen and Flint are missing; I want you to stay the night in this house. You can have the guest bedroom. I don't you to go missing as well. That's the last thing we need." Sam sighed and dropped her head into her hands.

_Where is Flint?_ Sam thought worriedly and lifted her head of her hands. If he didn't come home for dinner, she should start doing something to find him.

xxx

It was a cell. A large, dark cell. With bars on one side and dark walls on all the other three sides. Flint's head hurt when he woke up. He felt like someone had bashed him on the head with a baseball bat. Moaning, he lifted his head of the ground and looked around. It was a cell. He knew that. But where was he? Was it a jail? What happened? Shaking his head, Flint looked around the cell.

In the dark corner, lay a figure on the ground. Gulping, Flint crawled over to the figure. For some reason he couldn't move his leg. It hurt like hell. So he had to sort of drag his leg after him as he crawled over to the sleeping figure. When he moved away a curtain of dark hair from the face, he gasped. It was Angelica. He shook her shoulder and she woke up.  
>"What's happening? Where am I?" she cried out and scrambled up to sit. But as she did, she yelped in pain. Her leg was hurting too.<p>

"_FLINT? _What are YOU doing here?" she demanded and looked around the cell.

"Don't ask me. I just woke up and I'm just as confused as you are." He shook his head at her.

Her eyes widened and she crawled over to the cell's bars. It was a lit up room. The room was all empty with beige walls and a scruffy tiled white floor. A fly buzzed around the light overhead. She sat back down and then glanced at her leg. Around her ankle was some kind of tight dark blue bracelet. It looked a lot like those hospital bracelets you got that had your name and what you're 'number' was. It was one of those plastic ones that once they were clipped on, that only way to remove them were to snap them with scissors.

Flint lifted his pant leg just over his ankle and saw that he had the same one. Both of their bracelets were on tight and made that leg hard to use. Leaning in, Angelica squinted as she read the white lettering on the dark blue bracelet.

"Mine says: _Code A2. _What is that supposed to mean?" Angelica read and glanced up at Flint with wide, frightened eyes.

"I have no clue," Flint shook his head and leaned in to read his, "Mine says: _Code A1_."

Both of them exchanged confused glances and then they heard something buzz. It was an intercom on the wall.

"_Can Code Z bring Code B1 to Room #3?" _the intercom buzzed and those words echoed throughout the room.

Once again, Angelica and Flint exchanged puzzled glances and wondered who these people were. They wondered who Code Z was and who Code B1 was. _Maybe there are other people like us who are captured? Maybe we aren't the only ones!_ Flint thought. Next to himself, Angelica began to shiver in her ripped suit jacket and suit torn skirt. Her shoes were missing and her hair was a wavy mess. Flint wondered what had happened to her. But questions were for later. Right now they had to figure out where they were.

"Flint? Were you just wearing that? Don't you always wear your lab coat?" Angelica suddenly asked.

Looking down at himself, Flint saw that he no longer was wearing his rain coat or his lab coat. His lab coat was gone! All he had was his orange T-shirt and jeans.

"MY LAB COAT! Where is it?" Flint cried and Angelic watched him with wide eyes.

"Maybe whoever works here or whoever captured you took it." Angelica told him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

But Flint didn't care. He had to get his lab coat! It couldn't have been taken away! Fran had given it to him and it was one of his prized possessions. When he lost it during the spaghetti tornado, he remembered how he sat in the garbage can. It had practically torn his heart to pieces. He brought his knees to his chest and buried his face into his knees.

"_Code Z, please collect Codes A1 and A2 and bring them to Room #3._" Came the same voice over the intercom.

"Flint! That's us!" Angelica hissed and nudged him gently.

Raising his head, Flint nodded.

Suddenly a door that they hadn't seen before slammed open and walked in a man. His face was covered in a ski mask and he was short. He reminded Flint of Shelbourne. _But hopefully he is dead. Unless, like Angelica suggested, he drank the Immortality Liquid._ Flint thought and glanced at the man's clothing. It was a dark blue trench coat. Clenching his teeth, Flint wasn't going anywhere with this guy. The trench coat obviously showed someone bad. The ski mask made it even worse. The face was completely hidden, except for the eye and the mouth. The man pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the cell door.

When Angelica and Flint were helped out, they tried to make a run for it, but their leg that hurt prevented them from doing so. The man heaved them to their feet and grabbing them by their arms, half dragged and half led them out of the room.

"Where are you taking us? Who are you? I'm the Mayor of ChewandSwallow! I demand you let me go or I'll call the police!" Angelica snapped and tried to wiggle her arm out of the man's tight grip.

"You can't call anyone. Your phone and Flint's have been locked away." The man replied and Angelica immediately recognized the voice.

"ALBERT SHELBOUNRE I DEMAND YOU PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Angelica howled and Flint's eyes widened.

But when Shelbourne turned to glare at Angelica, his eyes were dark and cruel. He had been injected. Probably an overdose. She could tell because around the brown part of his eyes, there were small black dots. He gripped her hand tighter and Angelica cried out in pain as he dragged her on her polished floor.

Flint didn't say anything. He was much too terrified to utter anything.


	10. Chapter 10: Some secrets revealed

**A/N: Sorry I didn't submit this earlier. There was some internet problems… Anyway, I bet most of you are confused about the last chapter. But it'll be slowly evened out throughout the story. =)**

They were dragged into a large open room. The room had no windows, only tall looming walls. The walls were painted some sort of magenta-brown color. Across the room there was a long table that stood horizontally from where Flint and Angelica were brought in. At the table sat a man that Angelica immediately recognized. Her eyes went wide and her mouth was open to shout something. But then she hung her head and her shoulders heaved.

Shelbourne let go of Flint and Angelica and they fell to the middle of the room. Then he went to sit with the man that Angelica recognized and Flint also noticed another man sitting there too. This man wasn't wearing a ski mask. He just wore a black cloth tied around his eyes. But the cloth had holes for the eyes, so Flint didn't really see the purpose for the cloth.

All three (Shelbourne and the two men) wore new, glossy dark blue trench coats. The man with the black cloth on his face was nervously glancing at Angelica. Flint saw tears streaming out of his eyes and staining his cloth around his eyes. The man who just sat there (the one Angelica recognized) was now smoking. But then he smashed his cigar into an ash tray beside him and got up.

"It's good to see both of you here!" the man spread his arms and gave them an evil smile.

Angelica didn't say anything. Neither did Flint. He just waited for Angelica to do all the talking. Slowly he glanced at her and saw that she looked ready to explode. Her teeth were bared, and her hands were clenched at her sides. In a snapping motion, she pulled the pin from her suit jacket pocket and pinned her hair up. Then she tried to get up, but couldn't. Angrily, she glared at the bracelet tightened around her ankle and tried to pry it with her nails.

"You can't get it off. Only I can." The man who was standing sneered. He pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button. At that time, Angelica's bracelet clicked open and she stood up without a problem. The bracelet clattered to the ground and Angelica began to advance to the table. But the man pressed the same button on the remote and the bracelet crawled across the floor and attached itself to her ankle. Instantly, Angelica fell to the ground and cried out in pain.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?" she then demanded and glared at the man.

"For two reasons. One, you stabbed MY SON and two we need you." The man snarled and then ripped off his ski mask.

Angelica had already seen who the man was, but that didn't stop her face from becoming pale. Flint gasped and crawled back in fright. It was an older version of Albert version. This was Richard Shelbourne; Albert's father. What Flint remembered from this guy, was when he pulled a gun on Albert after a football game long time ago. Flint had seen this happen, when he and the old League of DBTC time traveled. Plus he hated Angelica's guts. Even back then he did. When Flint saw him through Time Travel, Richard had warned Albert not to date Angelica and dump her, for who her parents were. But Albert didn't listen to his father and went on to marrying her after high school. Now he stood before Flint looking the same as he did years back. Something didn't seem right.

"I stabbed you $$hole of a son, because HE tried to kill Flint and his group here! You don't just go killing off innocent people!" Angelica shouted and waved her fist at him.

"Yeah, but whose fault is it, that my son became that murderous person? Hmmm?" Richard crossed his arms over his chest.

"MINE! But who goes snooping in my lab and stealing my inventions that clearly say CAUTION!" Angelica shouted even louder.

"You gave him your lab password!" Richard shot back.

"HE WAS MY HUSBAND! I LOVED HIM AND TRUSTED HIM!" Angelica yelled and tried to get up, but helplessly fell to the floor.

"I told him to never marry you. I even warned YOU! But you went off anyway! I WARNED YOU!" Richard snapped and Angelica covered her head with her hands and breathed in deeply.

"Angelica. Please don't start crying." Whispered the other man with the cloth over his eyes. He got up and came over to Angelica.

"John, get back here. Don't touch her." Richard growled.

"John?" Angelica gasped and glanced at the man who came to kneel down beside her.

Tears came down her face and she threw her arms around the man. He hugged her back tightly, ignoring Richard's calls. Flint just sat there—confused. Questions flooded his head and he wished he could open his mouth and let them flow out. Some of them were: _What was going on? Wasn't Richard supposed to be dead? Who is John? Is he some second husband Angelica had or a relative? Why are we here? Are Brent and henchmen here too? _

The question's Flint had about John were answered soon enough. John ripped off the cloth of his eyes and Flint saw. The man looked a little like Angelica. Same brown hair, same clear blue eyes. So it had to be a relative.

"JOHN OREANT GET BACK HERE!" Richard shouted and John got up to go sit back down.

"Angelica, who is that?" Flint hissed.

"My dad." Angelica smiled sadly.

Flint nodded and watched as Richard began to whisper something angrily and urgently to John. Shelbourne (Albert) wasn't paying attention to what they were saying and was glaring at Flint and Angelica. Flint was just glaring back and suddenly wished he had his can of Spray-on-shoes to spray at Shelbourne. Or Steve to rip his hair out. Steve! Flint had to feed him! Hopefully Sam will remember. Or Denis. It didn't really matter who, just as long as Steve got fed.

_What if I never get out of this mess?_ Flint then thought. He remembered that day long ago when his second model of the FLDSMDFR had been stolen. That was when this had all started. Back then all he knew was that some man in the dark blue trench coat had snatched his invention. He didn't know about Angelica, the henchmen, or that there was a whole League. Denis he had known since 9th grade along with Brent. For a second he thought about how if he had never built the second model of the FLDSMDFR, none of this would be happening. But then again, it might be. The League of DBTC had begun right after the Food Incident. Angelica was found in London, England. Denis was brought from his town in the state of Rhode Island. The henchmen were a puzzle. No one really knew how Shelbourne found them.

But if the League had been created and Flint never made the second model, maybe there could have been a chance that Lucio (Esto's brother) could have still been alive. Even Joe and Patrick could have maybe been alive.

"Okay, we need to tell you something before we proceed," Richard stood up once again and turned to look directly at Angelica and Flint, "We are The League of TUIP. There are to be 12 members in this League. Can you guess who they are?" Richard let a sly smile creep onto his face.

Puzzled, Flint furrowed his eyebrow. There was Richard, Albert, and John. Unless he and Angelica counted too. They probably did since they were known as Codes A1 and A2. Then that meant only 5 members so far. _Who are the other 7 members?_ Flint thought.

He hated all of this. Why were he and Angelica captured? What was up with this other League? One had been enough! All he wanted was to be at home with Sam and Fran. And Denis, Angelica and the henchmen living across the street. Just like it had been for almost two years. He imagined walking through Central Park with Sam, like he had when Angelica and Denis said they'll babysit Fran. It was right before they had boarded the ferry to Liberty Island.

With his hand wrapped around the side of her waist as they walked peacefully down the path. With her hand around his waist too. Then when they had stopped and sat on the park bench. Her green eyes were searching his, before she leaned in and gently kissed his lips. The breeze played around them, when she had kissed him.

He wished that was happening now. With her hand through his hair and his holding her tightly to himself. When this was over, he never wanted to let her go again. After this, he wanted to hold her for a long time and tell her that he loved her more than anything in the world.

"You, Albert, John, Flint and me." Angelica then replied and Flint was brought back to reality.

"Yes. All the other 7 members are people who you know well. You might be able to guess four of them, but the other three you will never, ever guess. We don't plan on telling you either. You'll just have to wait and see." Richard crossed his arms over his chest and raised his chin.

"Fine, because we don't even want to know." Angelica crossed her arms too.

Flint opened his mouth to say he wanted to know, but shut it. The moment Richard turned to hiss something at John, Angelica turned to Flint and winked at him. Nodding, Flint promised to keep his mouth shut.

"I'm sure you do." Richard spun back around to look at her.

"Nope." She shook her head.

"Take them to their cell." Richard sighed and motioned for Shelbourne (Albert) to drag them away.

"Can Flint have his raincoat and lab coat back? It gets pretty cold in that cell, and I'm sure you wouldn't want us to get sick. I mean we are part of the League now." Angelica gave Richard her best smile and even batted her eyelashes for effect.

"Fine. John, give them the two coats." Richard rolled his eye and John got up to go to get something in a crate at the back of the room.

When John dropped the two coats at their feet, Flint grabbed his lab coat and out it on. _Thank goodness my lab coat is okay._ He sighed with relief. Angelica took the rain coat and slid that on. Then Shelbourne dragged them away.

As they were taken out from the room, Flint wondered if Angelica had a plan on how to get them out of this place. Hopefully she did. It sounded like she did. The whole way to the cell, Angelica was smiling. Shelbourne was glaring at her. When he stopped to answer a call on his cell phone, Angelica turned to Flint and said that she had a plan.

"What I'm about to do, is part of the plan. I don't want to do it. I REALLY don't want to do it, but I have to for the sake of the plan." Angelica whispered to Flint.

"What are you going to do?" Flint's eyes widened and he glanced at Angelica.

She didn't have time to answer that, because Shelbourne finished his phone conversation and slipped his cell phone back into his pocket. Then he dragged them into their empty room again and before putting them into their cell, Angelica cleared her throat loudly.

"What is it?" Shelbourne demanded.

Angelica took in a deep breath and glanced at Flint giving him the '_Here I go!'_ look. Gulping, she then looked up at Shelbourne from where she sat on the floor and made the saddest face in the world. Fake tears streamed out of her face.

"Oh, Albert! I miss you too much!" she cried and Flint wanted to crack up laughing at what a good actress Angelica was. But he tried his best to keep a straight face.

"Angelica, what the hell are you talking about?" Shelbourne snapped.

"I've just realized that what I've done was really bad. Can I have a hug?" she made a puppy-eyed face and tried to look hurt and unloved.

Shelbourne blinked at this and then looked Flint. Narrowing his eyes, Shelbourne frowned at Flint. Flint frowned back at him, but that was hard. He was seriously on the verge was laughing. Now he understood why Angelica didn't want to do this. Hugging your ex-husband was awkward and knowing how much she freaked out around him and how much she hated him, made it even worse. Thank god Denis wasn't here to see this.

Not responding, Shelbourne pulled out a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button. But instead of the bracelet snapping open, Angelica stood up. She gasped and didn't even realize she just stood up. _So the remote can control the person too._ Flint watched Angelica wobble on her legs. For a second she forgot what she was supposed to do, but then remembered and hugged Shelbourne.

He hugged her back and a soft smile played on his lips. But as Angelica hugged him, she reached into his trench coat pocket and pulled out the remote that controlled the bracelets. Then she gripped it in her fist.

Before Shelbourne could kiss her, she stepped away and gave him a smile. At the same time, she slipped the remote into the side pocket of her suit jacket.

"I'll see you around then." Angelica gave Shelbourne her fakest smile and he smiled slowly, despite the injection liquid that was boiling in him.

"Bye!" she waved at him and blew him a kiss. He nodded and left with a grin on his face.

The moment he left the room and locked the door, Angelica began to gag.

"AHHHH! WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST DO? OH GOD! EWWW!" she screamed and took off her suit jacket. Under she wore a white blouse.

"At least you got the remote." Flint reminded her.

"Oh yeah." She grinned and clicked it to free herself and Flint.


	11. Chapter 11: Unanswered questions

**A/N: Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there! A lot of them out there have gone through such hard times and many have made it through with a smile. My mom has gone through probably the worst divorce ever and I give her kudos for that. If it weren't for her, I might not have been sitting her right now, writing this fanfic. Just think of my dad as a drunk version of slightly injected Albert Shelbourne and the rest is pretty straight forward. If I lived with my dad, I might have ended up like Marie. Anyway, enough with all that, it's making me teary-eyed. Here we go with the chapter… (and I'm still gagging about the AngelicaXAlbert scene in the previous chapter. I seriously DO NOT support them as a couple.)**

The door to the Mayor's office slammed open and everyone in the room whipped their heads around to see who had come. It was a figure in a black coat and sunglasses. Pointed high-heeled boots poked out from the coat. Brown wavy hair was waving around behind the person. It wasn't a guy. Then five students all watched the woman walk across the room and sit down at the Mayor's desk. She grabbed a dart from her pocket and threw it at Mayor Albert Shelbourne's portrait on the wall.

"Well, aren't you going to leave?" the woman raised an eyebrow, that went over the rim of her sunglasses.

"Uh, we are waiting for Mayor Oreant." One of the boys looked at her.

"I am Mayor Oreant." The woman whipped off her sunglasses and glared at the five students.

She did look like Mayor Angelica Oreant, but the five students still doubted it was her. This woman looked slightly younger, but strangely looked just like Angelica Oreant. An exact copy. But there was something in her face that wasn't Angelica. One of the girls narrowed her eyes. The woman face reminded her of Albert Shelbourne for some strange reason.

"Uh, then I guess we aren't substitute Mayors anymore?" another one of the girls blinked sadly. She was looking forward to turning this town into something extraordinary.

"No. Leave." The woman who claimed she was Mayor Oreant pointed at the door and all five students left with their heads hung.

But as they left, they kept on looking back. The woman shed her black coat and they saw that she wore a white polo shirt and faded jeans. This wasn't Mayor Oreant. The woman saw that the five students were watching her, so she got up and slammed the door in their faces. Taken back, the five students stared at the door for a few seconds, before they headed down the hallway. They had been _this_ close to becoming town leaders, but now this happened.

Meanwhile inside the office, the woman crackled with static and suddenly vanished into thin air just like that. It hadn't been Angelica Oreant. It hadn't even been a human. It was a moving 3-dimensional image that was programmed to get the five students out of the office and tell them that she was Mayor Oreant. It had been a 3-dimensional image of Marie Oreant. That was the reason she had looked so young.

xxx

About two hours had passed and Denis was becoming more and more worried. The rain was still coming down and beat just as hard on the windows. He wondered where Angelica was now and if Flint was okay. Sam was just as worried. She was in the kitchen reading and Fran was playing with her stuffed animals in her playpen. The only sound that was heard in the whole house was the sound of Fran talking to herself in baby talk.

Slipping his hands into his pockets, Denis sat down across from Sam and watcher her read. But she kept glancing at him.

"What are you looking at? I can't concentrate if you're staring at me." Sam looked up at him and slammed her book closed.

"I'm bored." Denis snatched the book from Sam and looked at the cover. It was a romance novel.

Rolling his eyes, Denis gave Sam the book back. He didn't even read books anymore. The only thing he read were sports magazines. The last time he had read a fiction book was in 9th grade when they had to read _To Kill a Mockingbird_. In 10th grade they had done Shakespeare, so the only thing he had read there was the script for the plays. In 11th and 12th grade he had taken Shakespeare once again to avoid the novel study.

"Well what do you want me to do?" Sam demanded and glared at him.

Shrugging, Denis asked Sam if she had a laptop. Nodding she told him it was upstairs on her night table. Grinning he ran upstairs and came back with it and placed it on the kitchen table. Sam watched as he booted the laptop and the moment he opened up Sam's user, he leaned back in surprise when he saw Sam's wallpaper.

It was a picture of Flint and Sam kissing each other and Flint held the camera. Shaking his head, Denis glanced at Sam; who turned deep red and buried her face into her book to pretend she was reading. Then Denis burst out laughing.

"Embarrassed? Awww c'mon Sam." Denis grinned at her.

"I bet if that was you and Angelica you'd be red in the face too." Sam then lowered the book and wiggled her eyebrows at Denis.

The moment those words left Sam's lips, Denis blushed really deeply and looked down. Now it was Sam's turn to laugh.

"I know you like her, Denis." Sam drawled and grinned at him.

"I do not! She's freaking twenty years older than me! And she's still married to Albert! They still didn't file a divorce!" Denis cried.

"But Flint told me Angelica had a Youth Ray in her lab. Sadly it was stolen. I bet you want to zap her and make her 24 again. Right?" Sam teased.

Denis didn't say anything. Instead he just typed something into the laptop and Sam peeked onto the screen. He had gone on . Sighing, Sam leaned back into her seat and began to read. _Why can't Denis just go get a girlfriend? I'm sure many girls would go for him!_ Sam thought and glanced at Denis.

He was really getting handsomer. His green eyes were the color of green grass after it was taken good care of. They were really bright green. His brown hair with its blonde streaks was spiked up in small spikes and some of it was covering his forehead and almost reaching his eyes. Plus he constantly wore either jerseys or tight T-shirt to show off his biceps. Then she imagined Angelica being his girlfriend. It seemed weird. The two were close, but they were just friends. Sam remembered when they had both been with the League of DBTC. Had they ever been such good friends back then? Probably not.

Sam remembered when she first got kidnapped and was brought into the League of DBTC's headquarters under Grand Central Station. That day she had heard Denis being injected. She never saw. And she was glad she never did. Angelica hadn't really paid attention to Denis back then.

"When's lunch?" Denis suddenly asked

"Denis, didn't you eat earlier?" Sam sighed.

"No. We ran over to your house, then Flint and I went to Brent's house and now I'm sitting here." Denis told her.

"Go look in the fridge and cupboards for food." Sam replied and continued to read.

Nodding, Denis went to look in the fridge and then snooped through the cupboards. After he came back with a beer and a box of Oreos.

"You call that lunch?" Sam raised an eyebrow at the so-called meal.

"I could take the box of chocolate chip cookies instead." Denis took a bite out of an Oreo and then a swing of beer.

Sam shook her head and just continued to read.

xxx

_Click!_

The bracelets snapped off Angelica's and Flint's ankles and both staggered to their feet. Angelica smiled to herself. She had gotten the remote and distracted Shelbourne so much that he forgot to lock them away in their cell. She came up to the door to the room and wiggled the doorknob. It was locked.

"What now?" Flint came over and tried to think of a way to get the door open.

"Have no fear." Angelica grinned and remembered about her hair pin, which she had pinned onto her suit jacket. Quickly she snatched up her suit jacket off the floor and took the pin out of the fabric.

Kneeling down in front of the doorknob, she began to pick the lock with the sharp point of the pin. Flint watched carefully. _What if she didn't have that pin? In fact if Angelica wasn't even here, I'd probably still be stuck in the cell. _Flint sighed to himself.

"_Will Code Z, PLEASE bring Code B1 into Room #3!" _the intercom on the wall crackled and both Flint and Angelica jumped at the noise.

"I don't understand all these weird code names. We are A1 and A2. Albert is Code Z. Is there something behind all these Code names? And what does TUIP stand for?" Angelica muttered out loud.

"Maybe we'll find out sooner or later." Flint said and Angelica cried out in triumph as she opened the door.

Grinning at Flint, she motioned for him to follow him. They exited the room and stepped out into a long hallway. A small gasp came from Angelica. This was the exact same hallway from her nightmares. Slowly, they crept down the hallway and came to the end of it. Angelica never really knew what was at the end. Holding her breath, she peeked around the corner. There was a foyer with doors that probably led into other room or more hallways. One was just another hallway leading away from the foyer. The room where they just met Richard and John was probably there.

The only problem was that Flint and Angelica couldn't really enter into the foyer. There were at least a dozen security cameras on the walls. All were swiveling around as if they sensed Angelica's and Flint's presence. But that was not all. Voices were coming from the open hallway across the foyer.

"…it worked. But that was much too risky. What if those five kids noticed it was Marie Oreant or if they realized it was only a moving image." Richard was talking to John.

Angelica's eyes widened. _What are they talking about? I heard Marie's name._ She thought and narrowed her eyes.

"I don't really care about that. What you never told me and Albert what 'TUIP' stands for." John shook his head.

"When Albert comes, I'll tell the both of you." Richard nodded slowly and glanced around the room.

Suddenly one of the doors in the foyer opened and Albert ran out with a wide grin on his face. Confusion washed over Flint and Angelica. If Albert had just come from their room, he was supposed to have run down the hallway in which Angelica and Flint stood in. Either there was a shortcut to this foyer or this place was just really messed up. Albert ran over to Richard and John and told them about what Angelica just told him and that she actually hugged him.

From where she sat, Angelica turned red and covered her eyes with her hands. Flint just chuckled and patted Angelica on the shoulder.

"WHAT? She didn't." Richard's eyes widened and then narrowed suspiciously.

"Oh, she so did." Albert sang and couldn't help but grinning.

"His happy emotions are taking over his injected mind." Richard muttered to John.

Shrugging, John didn't really seem to care. He then reminded Richard that now that Albert was here, Richard could finally reveal what 'TUIP' stands for. When John had said that, Angelica and Flint leaned in a bit to make sure they heard every single word.

"Well, okay. But after I say what it stands for, I then need to explain why the weird Code names." Richard told them.

"Get on with it already!" John cried and Richard took in a deep breath.

"TUIP stands for—" Richard began.

**A/N: To torture you, you'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out what it stands for. (Evil laugh) =D**


	12. Chapter 12: The League of TUIP

**A/N: I was supposed to post this last night, but fanfic wouldn't let me because of some stupid error. In this chapter I reveal the name for the League, why the weird Code names and some other stuff. But there is still a lot of stuff you won't know. =)**

Gulping, Angelica watched Richard with wide eyes. Next to her, Flint was leaning in a bit, so he won't miss a single word that fell out of Richard's mouth. But Richard had paused for a dramatic effect and looked at John and Albert; who were glaring at him. After at least a minute of smiling and staring up at the ceiling, Richard finally gave in.

"It's The League of the Treacherous, Undead, Injected and Powerful." Richard raised his chin.

There was a silence. John was the one to break it.

"That's it? I thought it'd be like actually SOMETHING and not a list of adjectives. But I like it." John replied and tried to say the League's name under his breath.

Behind the corner, Angelica and Flint were watching with glazed eyes. Flint gulped when he heard the name. The 'Treacherous' and 'Powerful' part was fine, but what about 'Undead' and 'Injected'? That troubled Flint. They were going to use the Evil Injection Liquid on some people again? He already knew Albert Shelbourne was injected. Did that mean he and Angelica were going to get injected?

The 'Undead' part of TUIP confused him. What was that supposed to mean? Did the 'Undead' refer to Albert; who had the Immortality Liquid bubbling in him? There probably were more people who had drunk the Immortality Liquid. Unless by 'Undead' they meant that they'll bring dead people back to life. The gears turned in Flint's head and suddenly he realized what Richard was planning. It wasn't too obvious, but he figured most of it out.

"What about the Code names? How come I'm Code Z? John doesn't even know who he is! And you told me to bring Code B1 to Room #3. I don't even know who that is!" Albert waved his arms around in confusion.

"Calm down. I've divided up The League into four sections. Each section is one letter of 'TUIP'. The first section is called 'Treacherous'. That is you, John and me. We are categorized by the ending letters of the alphabet. I'm Code X, John is Code Y, and you are Code Z. The section labeled 'Powerful' contains Angelica and Flint. They are also known as the 'A' group. Flint is Code A1, and Angelica is Code A2. The next section is labeled 'Injected'. This section contains the 'B' group. So far we have four people there. The next section is 'Undead'. This is also known as the 'C' group. I have three people _planned _for this group, but aren't quite here—yet. Any questions?" Richard explained to Albert, but he addressed it to John too.

"Okay first question: Wouldn't the name be 'TPIU'? Since it goes 'Treacherous, Powerful, Injected and then Undead'?" John raised his hand.

"Yes, I know. But I made it 'TUIP' so you could pronounce it easier." Richard sighed.

Albert raised his hand too.

"Wouldn't I be in the 'Injected' group?" Albert furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"No. I put you in the main group because that's where I need you." Richard glared at his son.

Flint let out a gasp from all the information he just heard. Wincing, Angelica slapped her hand over his mouth and shushed at him. His eyes widened and tried to push Angelica's hand away. But she shook her head at him and motioned for him to be quiet. Flint immediately stopped struggling and then Angelica removed her hand.

Now that Flint had heard about the meaning behind 'TUIP' and why the weird Code names, he pieced all the puzzle pieces together. These undead people were probably lying in their graves somewhere. What Richard probably wanted was for him and Angelica to make an invention to bring them back to life. Or maybe the undead referred to injecting people with the Immortality Liquid. He hoped it was his second thought.

The only thing he didn't understand was: what were Richard and his League after? Albert and the League of DBTC had been after him. Albert just wanted Flint killed, but Richard wanted him alive. He didn't really understand what was going on.

"Flint, I don't understand one thing. Richard should be reading our minds right now. I don't think he's wearing the Mind Reading Patches. If he were, he would have found us the moment he entered the room." Angelica whispered to Flint in the quietest voice she had.

"Yeah. And where are he and Albert keeping your other inventions?" Flint narrowed his eyes.

"Dunno." Angelica hissed back and knew they had to get across the foyer and through one of the doors. They had to get out of here. _Maybe we can get my father out of here too. _

She knew that if they sat all day in the hallway, they wouldn't get anywhere. So she had a plan. But now that she thought about her 'plan', she shook her head. No more getting sappy with Albert. Even if he was so stupid that he just fell for her and caught onto ever word she said. So maybe she could go with Plan B. She reached for her dagger, but then realized that she forgot her dagger in the Mayor's office. Flint's raincoat was left back in their cell room, so she was weaponless. She had no high-heels, no hair pin (she left that in the lock), no dagger and no raincoat (she knew how to turn a raincoat into a weapon). But Flint did wear a belt.

"Can I have your belt?" Angelica asked Flint in a whisper and glanced at Richard, John and Albert; who were talking in hushed whispers.

"_WHAT?" _Flint hissed at her.

"You heard me. I'm sure your pants will stay on. If they don't I really don't give the s*** what boxers you are wearing. That's Sam's job." Angelica rolled her eyes.

Flint glared at her, but she just smiled at him and held out her hand. Sighing, he took his belt out of his pants. Fortunately his pants stayed. But if his pants did drop, he blamed it on Angelica. He handed her the belt and she got up from where she sat.

"Stay." She instructed Flint as if he was some dog. Nodding, Flint was glad he wasn't approaching the Treacherous crew. The last thing he needed was another dislodged shoulder or a broken leg. He had enough injuries already when the League if DBTC chased him. Plus Angelica was better at beating people up than he was.

Slowly, Angelica crept toward Richard, John and Albert. She held the belt at her side. It was Richard and Albert she was after. Her father needed to stay out of this. She wasn't going to hurt him. When she stood right behind Richard, she cracked the belt on the ground like it was some sort of whip. The sound was really loud and sounded like a canon had gone off. Richard jumped and spun around to glance at Angelica. When Albert spun around, he grinned at her. _Ugh. It's time to not only break some bones, but break a heart too._ She raised an eyebrow at Albert.

"Is that all you got? A belt? Well guess what I've got." Richard cackled. Grinning evilly, he pulled out a clear bag out of his trench coat pocket. It was a syringe that was filled with black, gloppy liquid.

"Father, don't hurt her!" Albert cried from where he stood.

"What the hell is your problem?" Richard growled at Albert.

"Earlier, she said she missed me." Albert said in a quiet voice.

"WHAT?" Richard thundered and spun around to face Angelica.

"I was only lying. I only said that so I could steal the remote that unlocked our bracelets." Angelica smirked.

Pursing his lips, Richard spun back around to glower at Albert. Angelica expected Albert to start bawling. But she remembered that he was injected. The hug that she gave him only pushed back his evil side a bit. Now it seemed that it was coming back. And not just part of it. His evil side was thrashing around Albert like a raging bull.

But Angelica just snapped Flint's belt at her side.

"Come and get me." She called to Albert.

He slashed out a dagger out of his pocket. This was good. Angelica thought it would have been a gun. The good thing about this was that she knew Albert was never good with daggers. He was more of a gun person.

"Oh I will." Albert grinned his toothy grin. He lunged at Angelica with the dagger, but she easily stepped aside and snapped the belt. The belt hit Albert on the arm and he yelped in pain. This time, Angelica thought he would come in much slower, but came in at her with more power.

The dagger sliced across her arm and this sliced off the sleeve to her blouse. It had also made a deep cut in her upper arm. Blood spurted out. Anger flashed through Angelica and she snapped the belt even harder at Albert. It hit him in the gut. He stumbled and fell back. Meanwhile she clutched her arm. Blood seeped through her fingers and she bit her lip so didn't have to cry out. When Albert saw that this had hurt her, he got up in a matter of seconds and lunged at her again.

Gasping, she picked up the belt and held it to block herself. But the dagger cut right through the belt and the dagger sliced at the flesh under her rib cage. She screamed and dropped the remains of the belt to the ground.

"FLINT! RUN! GET DENIS! GET HELP!" Angelica screamed out loud. She fell to her knees and Flint knew this was his time to get out.

Scrambling to his feet, he ran down the hallway they came through and his pants fell off as he ran. Tripping over them, he fell to the ground and scraped his knees bad. Thankfully his boxers were black today so it looked like he wore shorts. Scrambling to his feet, he ran down the hallway in his boxers.

As he ran he heard heavy footsteps behind him. At one point he turned to look and saw that it was John. John wasn't so bad. Maybe he could stop and ask John for a way out? But he couldn't trust John just yet. Instead he continued to run, hoping that Angelica survived the two Shelbournes…

But Angelica was finished. She couldn't stand because her whole left side had a really deep cut and blood was coming out fast. She now held her side too. _I give up._ She thought to herself and watched Richard hold the syringe in his hand. Albert was advancing at her with his dagger.

"You can't inject me. I'm part of the 'Powerful' section. Not the 'Injected' one!" she cried hoping this would distract them.

"Well we could move you move you to the 'Injected' section, but you could be working with the 'Powerful' section." Richard tested the syringe and a few black drops of the liquid dripped onto the floor.

"Why can't you just leave me ALONE? I have been living a normal life for almost two years since I was with the League of DBTC!" Angelica wailed and clutched her side and upper side of her arm.

"One year and 9 months. Not two years." Albert shook his head.  
>"WHATEVER! You know what I'm talking about!" Angelica snapped.<p>

Richard sighed and looked at the syringe he held. Only Albert was watching Angelica. His eyes were filled with confusion. In his mind, his evil injected emotions were battling against his soft, loving ones. Every time he glanced at Angelica, his love for her overpowered his evil thoughts. But then when he'd think about what he supposed to do and about the League, his evil emotions took over. So he just sat there with an expressionless face.

"I don't love you, so you can stop looking at me like that." Angelica snarled at Albert, when his soft side took over and he was staring at her.

"Fine. Maybe I don't." Albert replied and his evil side slid into position.

Meanwhile, Richard came and stood next to Albert. He held the syringe in his hand.

"Maybe I could inject you. It would be better for the League. Then maybe when John finds Flint we'll inject him too." Richard raised his eyebrows.

"Flint will get away. He'll bring Denis and then Denis will save me." Angelica said in a trembling voice. She hoped Flint will get away.

"Code 5?" Albert frowned in confusion.

"They say they are friends, but I think they are turning into something more than that." Richard sighed.

Angelica's eyes widened. _How does he know Denis and I are friends? Has he been spying on me?_

"But enough chitchat. I've got something to do here." Richard shook his head and approached Angelica with the syringe.

She screamed and tried to get up. But her side hurt too much, so she tried to crawl away. But Richard had already sent the syringe into her. Slowly he pushed the syringe's back side and the black injection liquid bubbled out of the syringe and through Angelica's skin.


	13. Chapter 13: Denis is off

**A/N: I know it's only chapter 13, but I already started thinking about the ending. This story is probably going to be the twisted one (in a good way) out of the four CWACOM fanfics I wrote so far. After this fanfic I'm starting fresh.**

Flint ran as fast as he could. He felt so awkward running in his boxers, but he knew the important thing right now was to get the heck out of here and not worry about what color his boxers were. Behind him, John Oreant was running too. Flint hoped John wouldn't catch up to him.

"Flint! Please stop! I don't want to hurt you! Or Angelica!" John pleaded and Flint heard sharp breathing coming from him. John was getting tired.

_This is either a trap, or he is really telling the truth._ Flint thought. He had watched many movies and read many books where the main character is usually chased by some villainous sidekick and then stops running because the sidekick was pleading with him. Eventually the main character would get tricked into following the sidekick into some room, where he'd get pushed into a cage or tied up.

Maybe it was like that now, but Flint remembered how John acted toward Angelica in the main room. Maybe he WAS telling the truth. There was only one way to find out. He stopped running and so did John.

"There is no way out." John stopped to catch him breath and looked up at Flint.

"If there is a way in, there is a way out." Flint told him.

"Except no one knows what the way in is. Only Richard does." John explained.

"Then how did you get in?" Flint glanced around.

They stood in a hallway similar to the one they just stood in a few minutes ago.

"I don't know. I was knocked out and woke up here. But this place is like an endless maze. Most of the hallways are all the same, but are different at the same time. Usually we just stick in the main part." John told him and looked around too.

_So I don't know what country I'm in, I don't know what time it is, and I don't know how to get out of this creepy place. Great. Just great._ Flint sighed and then began to walk down the hallway they just ran down. John followed.

Slowly, they ended up in the foyer again. Flint didn't exactly know how they made it there so fast, but at least they made it back. The foyer was empty. Everyone had gone somewhere. Flint didn't care where Richard and Albert went. He just cared about Angelica. If she was dead, he didn't ever want to come home. Denis would want to know where Angelica was, and if he really did like her, he'd probably go fall into the ocean and drown himself. If she was alive, then Flint had to find her and they needed to get home. If they ever found a way.

"_Code Y, report to Room #3, NOW!" _came the angry voice of Richard over the intercom. Sighing, John turned to Flint and looked at him. Without saying anything, John disappeared down another hallway.

Flint was left all alone in the foyer with no pants and no idea of what to do now.

xxx

Night had fallen and tonight the sky wasn't clear at all. The starry night sky was covered in dark, storm clouds. The rain had stopped, but the clouds still stayed in the sky. They refused to move for some strange reason. It made it even darker outside than it normally should be.

Denis was sitting on the porch of Flint and Sam's house and watching a couple of moths flutter around the porch lights. He felt awful. Not because he sat on his ass all day, eating Oreos and watching football games on Sam's laptop. But because he wasn't doing anything to help anyone. Angelica was gone because she didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her, Flint was kidnapped, and Brent and the henchmen simply vanished into thin air. He wanted to find out what was really going on. Was Shelbourne alive? Who kidnapped Flint? He needed to know! And if Shelbourne was really out there, Denis wanted to get rid of him for good.

"I put Fran to bed. Are you okay?" Sam came out on the porch and sat down beside Denis.

"No, I'm not. I need to go out there and find Flint, Brent and the henchmen. And I think that Shelbourne is still alive." Denis told her and turned to look at her.

"I think it's best if you stay here. Besides, you don't even know where they are." Sam replied and hoped that Shelbourne wasn't alive. Yes, Angelica had mentioned the Immortality Liquid, but maybe he never drank it. Then what was the reason for Flint's disappearance? She was miserable without him. The moment he was found, she was going to kiss him, like she never kissed him before. That's how much she missed him.

"But I'm sure you miss, Flint." Denis grinned as if reading Sam's mind.

"Yeah, I do." Sam sighed.

She wasn't the only one who missed Flint. When she put Fran in her crib, Fran asked for 'daddy'. All Sam could do was stroke her daughter's hair and tell her that daddy will come home soon. Fran was satisfied by that answer, because she curled up into a small ball and fell asleep.

"Then I'm off!" Denis hopped to his feet and stood up heroically.

"Yeah and where are you going first?" Sam watched him with a raised eyebrow and hoped the neighbors weren't watching.

Denis tapped his chin and narrowed his eyes. He looked down the street and his eyes fell on Flint's lab. That's where he'd go first. Steve can come with him and maybe they can take something to use as a weapon. Like Flint's can of Spray-On-Shoes. Flint had told Denis how his Spray-On-Shoes stopped the FLDSMDFR, so Denis figured that maybe he could spray it at Shelbourne to stop him. Or at least get Shelbourne covered in it.

"I'm going to Flint's lab first to pick up Steve and a can of Spray-On-Shoes." Denis told her.

But before, he could march off the porch and down the driveway; he remembered something and ran back into the house. He returned with a tattered black backpack. It was filled with something. Sam came over and opened it. She saw a sweater, a flashlight, a bag of gummybears (probably for Steve), a box of Oreos and at least a dozen cans of Arizona Ice Tea. _At least he didn't take the beer cans. They last thing he needed was to get drunk on the way._ Sam sighed and closed up the backpack.

"The Arizona cans make it heavy." Sam told him.

"So what? I've got to drink right?" Denis said and slung the backpack over his shoulder.

Taking in a deep breath, he walked off the porch and down the driveway. Once he reached the street, he turned to wave to Sam. Smiling, she waved back. _After he gets Steve from Flint's lab, he'll probably come running back saying he needs to go to the bathroom or something. Or he'll say he doesn't know where to go._ Sam shook her head and watched Denis cross the street and went around Flint's house.

The lights flicked on inside the house and Sam sucked in her breath. It was Tim. Suddenly, a shout exploded from the back of the house and Sam heard Tim yelling at Denis. Then Denis yelled something back. There was a silence, before the lights flicked off in the house and a minute later, the lights in Flint's lab flicked on. Sam saw Denis's figure move inside the lab and then heard the loud screeching of Steve.

Steve was probably angry that Flint hadn't visited him that day, or Denis had probably waked him up. Sam waited for the two to come out of the lab and appear on the street. When they did, Denis held a white can, which was probably the Spray-On-Shoes and Steve sat perched on his shoulder eating out of a bag. It had to be the gummy bear bag.

"So where are you going now?" Sam shouted.

"First, to Angelica's lab and then to Brent's house. I need to figure some things out." Denis called to her and turned to walk off the street, and onto Main Street. When he disappeared out of sight, Sam sucked in her breath.

"If you don't come back, I seriously don't know what I'm gonna do to you." She muttered under her breath about Denis and went inside the house.

As Denis marched done Main Street, he noticed that the streetlamps weren't that bright tonight. The street was empty. It seemed creepy and suddenly Denis wished he was safe at Flint and Sam's house. What if someone ended up kidnapping him like they did to Flint?

Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out an Oreo. Nibbling on it, he continued to walk down Main Street. If something jumped out at him, he sweared he was gonna scream like a girl. _This is just as bad as Angelica freaking the s*** out of me after I watched Paranormal Activity._ Denis crunched half the Oreo. On his shoulder, Steve even stopped eating his gummy bears. He was probably scared too. What Denis hoped for was that Steve would attack anyone who tries to kidnap them, since gummy bears made him extra hyper. Many times, Flint warned Denis not to feed Steve too many gummy bears.

"Hello, Denis."

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH! WHO THE HELL GOES THERE?" Denis screamed. On his shoulder, Steve slowly put the bag of gummy bears back into the backpack and covered his small monkey face with his small hands.

"Steve scared." Steve mumbled.

Shaking, Denis looked around. He saw no one. His heart raced and he shoved the last of his Oreo into his mouth and then gripped the can of Spray-On-Shoes in his hand.

"Whoever is out there, come out! I am not afraid to use this spray can!" Denis shouted into the night.

No one came out for a few minutes. Denis was freaking out. For sure he had heard someone speak to him. He knew he did. Even Steve had heard it. He then pulled out his flashlight and turned it on. But it didn't turn on. The batteries were dead. Groaning, Denis slipped it back into the backpack.

"I'm right here." came the voice again.

This time Denis saw her. It was a girl leaning against one of the streetlamps. He couldn't really see her face, but he saw her clothes. She wore jeans, a dark blue turtleneck and black ballet flats. When she lifted her head, he saw her face. He gasped and came over slowly. He knew that face anywhere. But he was confused too. _Angelica buried her a few days ago._ Denis blinked. It was Marie Oreant.

Gulping he came over. When he came to stand in front of her, he noticed that she didn't look like a 10th grader anymore. She looked his age. Her brown hair was longer and wavier. Her eyes were a little more bluer and her facial features were a bit sharper.

"Marie Oreant. I don't get it. You died 8 years ago and your mother buried you a few days ago." Denis blinked. Suddenly he felt really weird. It was weird calling Angelica a 'mother'. Now she seemed even older and he felt weird for liking her. When he put it all together it sounded wrong. _I have a tiny crush on Marie's mother. What the f***. What the hell am I doing here? _For a moment, all of Denis's feeling for Angelica drained away from him. _Geez, if Marie is still alive, then maybe I could date her. But hold it. What in the world is she doing alive?_ Denis thought to himself.

Marie let out a laugh.

"Ah, yes. But that is a mystery." She smiled. But then her smile faded.

"Wait, what did you say my name was?" she suddenly asked.

"Marie Oreant." Denis blinked and suddenly wondered if he was dreaming or this was just some girl playing a trick on him.

When he looked at Marie, she was looking very angry. In fact she looked a lot like when Angelica was angry. Same flaming eyes, fists clenched at her sides and her mouth set in straight line. No that was not what Angelica looked like when she was angry. Angelica looked like that when she was _injected_ and was really angry.

"My name is NOT Marie Oreant. MY NAME IS MARIE SHELBOURNE!" Marie snapped and glared at Denis.

_Huh? _Denis thought, _where did that come from?_

On his shoulder, Steve was watching Marie. He looked neither scared nor freaked out.

"Uh, okay. Well, I better get going." Denis replied and looked away.

But when he looked back, he saw that Marie wasn't there anymore.

"Marie?" Denis glanced around.

"No, Angelica." Came a new voice.

Slowly Denis turned around and saw Angelica standing there with the scariest look in her eyes. A hand appeared on her shoulder and then out of the shadows stepped out a face that Denis hoped he'd never see again. But here he was. Albert Shelbourne stood next to Angelica.

Denis didn't know whether to run or scream at the top of lungs.


	14. Chapter 14: Henchmen & strange map found

**A/N: In this chapter you'll find out what's up with Denis, where the henchmen and Brent are and parts of what the main section of the League is dealing with.**

"AHHHHH!"

Denis sat upright and gasping for air he looked around the room. He wasn't on Main Street or in some cold basement. He was in the guest bedroom at Flint and Sam's house. Everything that he had just experienced from leaving Sam's house, to getting yelled at by Tim and to whatever happened on Main Street had all been a nightmare. He pressed his hand to his chest and breathed in deeply. His heart was going crazy.

But he never had such a clear, realistic dream. Normally he didn't dream about things like that. What kind of dream was that anyway? He never dreamed of Marie, and let alone Albert. And Injected Angelica? Never. Sighing, he lay back in his bed and turned his head to glance at the digital clock on his night table. It was 1:00 in the morning.

"Denis? Are you okay?" Sam poked her head into the room.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just fine." Denis took in a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. Now he was afraid to go back to sleep. What if he returned to his nightmare? But they couldn't hurt him if he was dreaming. _It's just a stupid dream._ He told himself and his eyelids closed once again.

xxx

Flint knew that the only way he was going to get out of this place, was if he tried each door. But there were a lot of doors in the place and John had said that the place was pretty big. Like John had said, it was best if he stuck to the main foyer.

Biting his lip, he came over to one of the doors in the foyer and tried the doorknob. It opened easily. Afraid of what was inside; he poked his head through the doorway and looked into the room. The room was dimly lit and was about the same size as the room his and Angelica's cell was in. There was nothing in the room, as in no furniture. There were only four figures asleep at the back. Since the room was so dimly lit, Flint didn't exactly see who the people were. The back of the room was all shadows.

Walking into the room and closing the door behind himself, he walked over to the four people. These were probably part of the League too. It was probably the 'Injected' team, since Richard still hadn't got his 'Undead' one yet. But if these four people were really injected, then Flint would probably never make it out of the room.

"Uh, hello?" Flint whispered and stood a few feet away from the group.

"Hello?" came a voice back.

Gulping, Flint approached the voice and sat down not too far from the people. The person, who had answered him, sat up and rubbed his eyes. When Flint saw him, he grinned.

"Reg!" Flint gasped.

"Flint? W-what's going on? Where am I?" Reg sat up and arched his back to crack it, then sat upright and blinked at Flint.

"I'll tell you once everyone's awake. Who else is here?" Flint glanced at the other people.

"Um, that's Jag, Brent and Esto." Reg told him as he looked next to him. Then he nudged Jag as hard as he could. Screaming out in surprise, Jag bolted up. His eyes were wide. When he saw Reg and Flint looking at him, he relaxed.

"Geez, Jag. You scream like a girl." Reg rolled his eyes. Jag frowned. But when he looked at Flint, he cracked up laughing.

"Where are your pants?" Jag laughed.

Blowing out a sigh, Flint figured they weren't Injected. If they had been, Jag wouldn't be laughing about his boxers.

"Long story." Flint told him.

Still grinning, Jag nodded and then poked Esto; who was lying on the floor in an awkward position. Flint remembered that Angelica and Denis had found his wheelchair in Esto's room. Feeling bad for the guy, Flint wondered who they'll get Esto out of here if his legs didn't work. _I hate Richard's guts even more now. Why would he take Esto without his wheelchair? That's just cruel!_ Flint watched Esto.

Blinking his eyes, Esto sat up, but cringed in pain. Gasping he looked around the room and then his eyes grew even wider. He was looking for his wheelchair. And probably wondered where he was. Slowly, Esto turned to look at Flint. His eyes grew even wider and Flint could've sworn he saw a single tear trickle down Esto's cheek.

"Where am I?" he whispered.

"Wake Brent and Flint promised he'll explain." Jag told him.

Esto leaned sideways and punched Brent in the side. But Brent continued to snore. Esto punched him harder. Brent continued to snore—even louder.

"Oh for good sake!" Jag groaned and tried to get up.

But he couldn't his legs wouldn't work. Flint saw a bracelet wrapped tightly around his ankle.

"It won't work. Just crawl over to him." Flint told him.

Jag opened his mouth to ask why, but remembered that Flint would explain everything later and crawled over to Brent. With all his might, he punched Brent in his side. Even after that, Brent didn't wake up. He just sleepily scratched his side and muttered something sleepily under his breath.

Grumbling something under his breath, Jag leaned in and screamed into Brent's ear.

"YOU IDIOT! WAKE UP!" Jag shouted.

Groggily, Brent sat up and rubbed his eyes. Then he yawned greatly and looked around at everyone else in the room.

"Good morning." He stretched and smiled.

"I don't think its morning." Reg told him.

"Where are we?" Brent suddenly asked. Now he seemed fully awake and was slowly coming to his senses.

_Now it's time to explain everything to them. I'll start with going to Angelica's lab that night and finish to what happened earlier today._ Flint thought to himself. Taking in a deep, concentrated breath, he cleared his throat. Then he began.

As he told them about Angelica's lab, Jag and Brent were the only ones laughing when he told them about Denis and the Shape-Shifter. Reg and Esto just listened with wide eyes and open laws. When he moved on to the morning when Angelica left, Esto frowned and hung his head. Flint noticed that after the accident in Japan, Esto became very emotional. And much quieter. He used to be the boss of Reg and Jag, but now it seemed like Reg was taking leadership. Plus he had taken up painting. All his paintings were beautiful and to Esto they held some hidden message.

When Flint told them about going into Brent's house, Brent leaned in a bit. Once Flint told them about the strange noises, Brent seemed scared. It had been his house after all.

"I'm moving in with you and Sam." Brent told Flint and hugged his knees to his chest.

Next came the difficult part. Flint had to tell them about everything that happened starting from when he and Angelica woke up in the cell and to how Angelica asked for his belt. In between he had stumbled a bit when he told them everything he knew so far about the League of TUIP.

"I'm speechless." Reg shook his head when Flint finished.

"Same. Next time I see either Shelbourne, I'll pummel him till he begs for mercy." Jag boasted.

"You will not! Whenever you see Albert Shelbourne you freak out!" Reg snorted.

"I do NOT! And I WILL hit him next time I see him!" Jag crossed his arms over his chest.

"No you won't." Reg shook his head.

"Yes I will." Jag raised his chin.

"No you won't."

"Yes I will."

"Nope."

"Yes."

"OH MY GOD! SHELBOURNE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" Reg screamed and pointed behind Jag.

"AHHHH! Where? I'll do anything, just don't hurt me!" Jag screamed and spun around.

Reg began laughing so hard that he fell back. Jag realized that Shelbourne wasn't really there and glared at Reg. Then he realized that Reg knew that he really _would_ freak out if Shelbourne was in the room. Jag pouted and Flint, Brent and Esto began to laugh too. When the laughing died down, Reg sat up and glanced at Flint. The question was: what now?

xxx

The sound of shoes tapping against the polished floor was one of the things that were heard in the room. Other than that, there was the sound of fingers drumming against the tabletop, humming and someone eating a sandwich.

It was the main meeting room and Albert Shelbourne had walked into the room an hour ago. After that, no one said anything. John was humming, Richard was drumming his fingers, Albert was tapping his foot and Angelica was eating a sandwich made of ham, cheese, tomato and lettuce. The lettuce was making the crunching.

After Richard had injected her, she had fainted for an hour and woke up asking for food. Richard had ordered Albert to go make her a sandwich. While Albert was off preparing her food, she was sent off to take a shower and change. Even if she was injected, she refused to wear a dark blue trench coat. Instead she wore a clean white one. She wanted to wear a lab coat, but Richard didn't have any, so the white trench coat was the closest he had gotten to one.

"You guys are the most pathetic group of people I've ever met." Richard stopped drumming his fingers.

_Crunch!_

Angelica looked up at him in mid-bite. Then she slammed her sandwich on her plate and rose to her feet. Richard motioned for her to sit, but she refused. Albert tried to pull her arm so that she'll back into her chair, but she ripped her arm out of his grip and ended up smacking him in the face. She didn't even react to that. He winced and leaned back in his chair.

"We have to do something. Now I'll explain our plan a bit later, but right now I've got something important to show you." Richard explained to his small group. He knew that he'd rather not return to the whole most-pathetic-group idea or Angelica would snap and then she'd end up getting someone hurt. She already seemed frazzled by that.

"And what would that be?" Albert asked and watched Angelica get out of the table and began to pace across the room with her shoes clacking hard against the floor.

"Well, about 17 years ago when you showed me the Immortality Liquid, Youth Ray, Mind-Reader Patches and Burner Gloves you had stolen, you had also brought me something else. I took it of course." Richard told Albert.

When Angelica heard her inventions being mentioned she froze, nodded to herself and continued pacing.

"What would that be?" Albert snapped and got up in his seat. John got up too in order to see better.

An evil grin spread across Richard's face and he pulled out a metal tube out from inside of his trench coat. He opened the lid at the top of the tube and tilted the tube so that a slightly yellowed rolled piece of giant poster paper came out. Still smiling, he spread the paper on the table and held it at both sides.

The piece of paper was much bigger than it looked. As everyone bit Angelica looked at it, they tried to see what it was. There was a bunch of squares and numbers and detailed diagrams all over the paper. All this was drawn over a beautifully hand-drawn map. At the top of the paper was the title: Lockdown for Swallow Falls.

"What is that supposed to mean?" John whispered and ran his hand over some of the diagrams.

"I haven't got a clue. But did you see who made this?" Richard jabbed his finger at the initials under the title. It said: _Made, Designed, Drawn, Tested by: A.R.O and F.L._

"So? A.R.O stands for Angelica Rita Oreant." John blinked at Richard.

But Richard said he knew that. He was wondering about the 'F.L.'

"I only know that Flint Lockwood carries around those initials. But 17 years ago, Flint was only a 7 year old! Any other suggestions?" Richard looked from Albert to John.

From where Angelica was, she seemed to hear everything that they were talking about. Quickly, she hurried over and shoved Richard aside to get a good look at what they were looking at. When she saw, her eyes widened and she gripped both sides of the paper.

"Fran Lockwood. Flint's mother." Angelica told them.

"So can you tell us what this means and what it is?" Albert raised an eyebrow at her.

But she didn't answer. Instead she traced her finger over the diagrams, which she drawn with her best friend ages ago. Suddenly her injected emotions were being shoved aside by her lost memories.

She remembered why they had drawn this, and when. It had been after Flint and Marie had been born. This was serious. This wasn't the type of map you'd draw as a 5 year old and pretend to go hunting for treasure. The title pretty much said it all. But there was still a lot behind it.


	15. Chapter 15: We were here all along

**A/N: It's been exactly a year since I first found out about/watched CWACOM! (It's true, I never knew about it in 2009!) I still remember seeing the commercial and then getting the DVD. Then I remember obsessing over the movie all summer long. Plus I had to watch it yesterday to get ideas for this fanfic. **

She traced her hand over the map and finally rolled it up and slipped it into her trench coat pocket. Even if she was injected, she didn't feel like trusting Richard with this map. If he figured it out, she would never see freedom again. But then to activate it, he needed both her and Fran. Fran was dead so there was no way the map could be activated. Angelica thought about how the slots in the 'Undead' section in the League of TUIP were empty. Richard had said he had a plan. Gulping, Angelica wondered if he could possibly bring Fran back to life. But when The League of DBTC tried to bring Marie back, everything collapsed. Flint and Albert died, and everything just went wrong.

"Why are you taking it? I need it!" Richard saw Angelica slipping the map into her pocket.

"You CANNOT have it. I drew it, so it's mine." Angelica took a step back.

"Albert, I don't think she's injected enough." Richard whispered at his son.

It was true. Angelica's body was so used to the Injection Liquid that it was now fighting it off. The only thing that could stop the Injection Liquid was love and happy memories and emotions. Or thinking about what was right, instead of what was evil. She was thinking about how Richard couldn't get his grubby hands on her map. This thought was battling away her Injected feelings.

Albert Shelbourne pulled out the syringe out of his pocket and Angelica saw that it was filled with a bit of the liquid. He advanced at her, but she knew he couldn't hurt her. He still had all those tubes running in and out of him, so he seemed weak. But he had strengthened.

She knew what to do. Once he was close to her, she drew out her foot and knocked the syringe out of his hand. It landed on the ground and shattered into a million little pieces. The liquid made a slimy black puddle on the ground. She had to be careful not to step into it. Or touch it.

"If you so much as put a finger on me, I'll dislocate your shoulder." She snarled at Albert and he froze a few feet away from her.

"No you can't. I know you can't." he snapped and came at her again. She didn't move. When he stopped a few inches from her, she clenched her fist at her side.

Anger boiled on the inside of her. She hated being called a weakling. She hated everything about it. What she hated more was that he actually dared to come so close. The next move came so fast that no one really expected it. She punched Albert so hard in the face that he tripped back and fell back onto the floor. Blood poured out the side and from the inside of his nose. It looked broken too.

Angelica looked up at Richard and John who stared at her with open mouths. Then Richard came over to her and grabbed her by the arm. Struggling, she tried to fight away. He didn't care. He pulled out a fresh syringe out of his pocket filled with more Injected Liquid. _How much of that stuff do they have? I don't remember making so much Injection Liquid! Maybe a liter…_ she thought to herself and screamed as he drove the syringe into her. It hurt because it went in deep and the whole syringe was released into her.

"Shelbournes will always win. People like YOU don't stand a chance." He hissed at her, before she slumped to the ground.

"But I invented all the inventions that are helping you." She croaked and blacked out.

"Well thank you." Richard let go of her carelessly and she fell to the floor.

xxx

The only way they could move around was if they crawled. Esto couldn't and Flint was able to walk since his bracelet was unlocked. They HAD to get the remote that unlocked the bracelets.

Right now it was important to just get out of the room. Richard or someone might come by and Inject Brent, Esto, Reg and Jag. They _were_ called the 'Injected'. So Flint took Esto's arms and began to drag him out of the room. Everyone else was crawling behind them. Once they were out of Room #3, they entered the foyer.

"Okay, we _have_ to find our way out of here. There just HAS to be a way out." Flint let go of Esto; who sat up from where he was let go.

"Is there a bathroom around here?" Jag then stopped crawling and looked up at Flint.

"NOW? Oh god, Jag. I don't know." Flint replied and wondered why at the worst time, he just had the need to go.

Flint walked over to the short hallway that led to the Meeting Room. Turning back, he told Brent and the henchmen to wait a sec. Gulping, he slowly opened the door and peeked in. There was no one there. Well, actually there was Albert lying on the floor with blood all over his face, but no one else.

He came over to Albert and slowly looked at him to see if he was awake or not. His eyes were closed and he seemed to have been knocked out pretty bad. Kneeling down, Flint took the remote out of Albert's trench coat pocket. _YES! _Flint grinned and ran out of the room on his tip-toes. Outside of the room, he waved the remote at the group.

"You got it!" Brent gasped.

"Okay. I'll unlock you guys." Flint replied and pressed the buttons marked 'B1' (Brent), 'B2' (Reg), 'B3' (Esto), and 'B4' (Jag). A loud click went through the room and Brent was first to hop to his feet and do a little dance around the room. Reg and Jag followed him. Only Esto sat there with a frown on his face.

"I feel no difference." He shrugged. Flint now felt really bad for him. They needed some kind of wheelchair or something like that for Esto.

Jag came up next to Flint and asked to see the remote. Flint handed it to him. _Maybe he actually forgot about going to the bathroom_. Flint thought and watched Jag eye the remote curiously.

The remote was a small silver rectangle with nine light blue buttons. Each button had a letter and number. There were Flint's and Angelica's codes, Brent's and henchmen's and then there were three other buttons. These were marked 'C1', 'C2' and 'C3'. It was the 'Undead' group. They couldn't lose this remote or let Richard know that they had it. It could come in handy if they ever got locked again.

"What will happen if I press the three buttons that have the 'C' codes? I mean if the people and group don't exist yet, then nothing will happen. Right?" Jag looked over at Flint.

"I'd rather you not…" Flint trailed off.

"But nothing will happen!" Jag protested.

"Jag, how do you know nothing will happen?" Reg came to stand at Jag's other side.

"I don't. But it'll be cool to find out!" Jag grinned.

Before Flint or Reg could stop him, Jag pressed all the buttons—one after another. For a second nothing happened. But suddenly the remote began to vibrate and a loud siren-type shriek escaped the remote.

"_SUCH CODES HAVE NO EXISTENCE YET! SUCH CODES HAVE NO EXISTENCE YET! SUCH CODES HAVE NO EXISTENCE YET!_" the remote shrieked.

"JAG!" Reg and Flint shouted at Jag.

"Oops." His eyes widened.

"What now?" Brent demanded.

"Just RUN!" Flint shouted over the siren.

Brent picked Esto off the ground and they all began to run out of the foyer. Jag still held on to the remote as they ran down the hallway that John had chased Flint down. Flint knocked the remote out of his hands and it crashed to the ground. But as it fell, it didn't even break. It just screamed the words louder and the siren wailed over the words.

The remote must have triggered something else, because another siren exploded out in the hallway. Red lights flashed in the hallway and they ran faster. Up ahead one of the walls began to vanish. Literally. It disappeared as if it had been some screen, instead of a real wall (which it had). Once the wall was gone, it revealed a stairwell leading upward. It was a way out!

"IDIOT! WHY'D YOU PRESS THE RELEASE BUTTON?" came Richard's voice over the intercom in the hallway.

It took Flint a few seconds to realize that Richard wasn't talking to him.

"It was an accident." came the voice of John. Grinning, Flint knew that John had probably done that on purpose.

"Guys! Get to the stairwell! Richard is gonna lock it!" Flint ran faster.

They reached the stairs and stepped onto them, just as the wall closed again. Letting out a sigh of relief, Flint couldn't believe that they actually made it OUT! Now they just had to get to the top of the stairs and see what was up there. What worried him was they didn't really know what country they were in. But he thought about and knew that they couldn't be far from ChewandSwallow. When he was kidnapped at Brent's house, he didn't black out for too long. So it wasn't like he could've been on some plane for hours.

"Flint, take Esto's legs and I'll take his arms. I'm getting tired of carrying him." Brent told Flint and set Esto down on the steps.

"Okay." Flint nodded and grabbed Esto's ankles. Brent took his arms just below his elbows and they began to jog up the stairs. Reg and Jag followed close behind.

As they ran up, Jag kept on saying how he had saved them all because he had pressed those three buttons on the remote. Reg would roll his eyes, but in his mind he kept on grumbling about how he wished it was HIM how pushed the buttons. He made a mental note to himself to start being more like Jag in his actions.

Soon they reached the top of the stairs and there everyone froze.

It was a room that was so familiar it felt weird standing in it. They first thing that could be said about the room was that it was really dusty. Dust covered everything in the room in thick layers. Cobwebs were criss-crossing the corners and Flint could've sworn he saw a few roaches scuttle around. The room was huge (as big as the football field at Swallow Falls High School) and had a really, really high ceiling. There were long windows on one wall that could only be reached by a ladder.

Boilers and gas tanks lined up against one wall and machinery stood in long rows and rows. Each row had different type of machines. One row had some kind of sorting machine, another had a scale peeling machine. Each had a machine that did something as important as the last. Most of the machines were coated in rust and some were melted away from a fire. Rotten sardine heads and tails lay in places on the floor. Some crates next to the machine stank of rotten sardines.

The lighting in the room was dim. Very dim. The sun was _just_ rising over the horizon and slowly sunlight spilled into the room. As the sunlight came in, dust danced in the light and brought a warm glow to the room.

"We're in the Sardine Factory." Flint whispered and slowly walked over to one of the walls, where there were a bunch of photos pinned on the wall.

"So we've been under ChewandSwallow all this time?" Brent asked in a quiet voice and helped Esto into a chair. He dusted it off, before letting Esto sit in it.

"I guess so." Esto nodded and glanced around.

Flint looked at the black and white photos that were pinned on the wall and saw three that caught his eye. Gently he removed the pin and took the photos off the wall. He brought them over to where Esto sat and called everyone over.

The first photo had Fran Lockwood and Angelica Oreant as teenagers working in the factory. Both had their arms around each other's shoulders and wide grins on their faces. Both had their hair back in hairnets and wore long white aprons. Flint passed it to everyone else to look at.

The second one was a photo of Fran and Tim Lockwood. Tim actually had hair back then and his eyes weren't covered. Fran held a bucket in her hand and Tim had his arm around her.

The third and last photo was of a whole group. There were Fran and Tim Lockwood, Angelica Oreant, Albert Shelbourne, and then Brent's parents; the McHales. All three husbands stood at the back and their wives stood in the front laughing. Everyone in this photo was laughing. They were all trying to goof off in front of the camera.

"So this was life back when everyone was happy." Brent sighed and took the photo to look at it.

"If only it could have stayed that way." Flint sighed and looked at the third photo again over Brent's shoulder.


	16. Chapter 16: Mixed Emotions

**A/N: Thanks guys for the reviews! Nameless Reviewer I read all your reviews, don't worry. Thanks L.A.M.B-3 and Qille for the reviews! And has anyone seen Pointless One? He wasn't reviewing on L.A.M.B-3's story either. I understand if he's busy, but at least say that you're there =) **

Quietly, the photos were handed back to Flint; who decided he'd take them home. Someday this factory might be brought down; he wanted to save something from it. While Reg, Jag and Brent walked around the factory, Flint went up to the photo wall and began to take down all photos. He was going to put them all in a photo album once he got home.

"Should we go home now? Richard and his crew might come back up." Esto watched Flint pile up the photos into a neat pile and slip them into his lab coat pocket.

"Yeah. But I feel horrible leaving Angelica down there." Flint came over to him.

"She's Angelica. She'll find a way out." Brent smiled and then he and Flint picked up Esto.

They carried Esto out of the factory doors with Reg and Jag following. Flint remembered that he was still in his boxers and hoped that no one would be on the streets at this time.

They walked down the narrow pathway that led from the factory doors and onto Main Street. The sky was a grayish-blue color and slowly the grayness of the sky was sweeping away to bring in the day's blue sky. A warm breeze was fluttering around town and Flint watched it pick up a crumpled up newspaper and send it across the road. Everything was so still at the crack of dawn. They were the only people walking around.

As they trotted down Main Street, Flint thought about how underground were the halls of the headquarters that belonged to The League of TUIP. How long have those tunnels been down there? Who dug them out in the first place? He had so many questions, it was driving him nuts. But what bothered him even more was that when John was chasing him, he had said that he didn't know the way out of the underground tunnels. Then it turned out to be John who had released them. Why hadn't John said anything to Flint before?

"Can I stay in your guest bedroom? I don't want Richard sneaking up on me and kidnapping me!" Brent asked Flint as they reached the east side of Main Street and turned onto another street.

"After we get Esto's wheelchair, can we come over to your house too? We'll bring sleeping bags. I can't bear to sleep in that house, since we got kidnapped too." Jag asked Flint as well.

"Sure, sure. We just have to be very quiet, because Sam and Fran are probably asleep. I think Denis might be there too." Flint nodded and they finally turned onto their street.

The first thing that Flint saw when he turned onto his street was his lab towering over his dad's house. He reminded himself to pay a visit to both his dad and Steve later. Tim might be interested in the photos that he had found in the factory. Maybe Flint could ask his dad a few questions too. Like about the tunnels and a little more about Richard, Angelica, Albert and his own mother. If he knew a little more about what had happened in the past, then maybe he'll be able to piece some things together.

They walked past his house and that's when Brent and Flint handed Esto off to Reg and Jag. The henchmen said they'll come by later. When they went off to their house, Brent and Flint walked over to Flint's.

The moment they walked up to the door, Flint realized that he didn't have any keys. Sam always locked the door overnight. The back door was locked too. Unless they crawled into the house through a window. Flint stepped away from the house and saw that the guest bedroom window had the lights turned on in it. _Denis is probably in there_. Flint thought.

"Give me a pebble." Flint held out his hand to Brent.

Brent knelt down on the driveway and found a small piece of loose gravel. It was the closest he could get to a pebble. Handing it to Flint he watched Flint throw it at the window. The piece of gravel clacked against the window and now all the lights in the room turned on. Denis came up to the window and opened it.

"BRENT! FLINT!" Denis exclaimed and a wide grin spread on his face.

"SHHHH! Can you open the front door for us? Just don't wake Sam or Fran." Flint whispered as loud as he could.

Nodding, Denis closed his window and disappeared back into the room. Soon he creaked open the front door and poked his head out. Placing his index finger to his lips, he motioned for them to be quiet. Once everyone was inside the house, Denis brought them into the living room. There on the couch slept Sam. A box of tissues was on her stomach and her glasses were gripped in her hand. She was asleep.

Next Denis led them into the kitchen, so that Sam couldn't hear them.

"You'll explain everything to me later. But Sam was miserable without you, Flint. Around three in the morning she came downstairs and just sat on the couch sobbing. She thinks you're dead, Flint." Denis whispered as quietly as he could.

"Well, I go to her now." Flint whispered back.

"I'll lead Brent to the guest bedroom in the basement and then I'm going back to bed upstairs." Denis nodded and he led Brent down the basement.

While he did that, Flint slowly crept into the living room. Sam was lying there so peacefully, he didn't really want to wake her. He came closer and saw that her eyelids were all red and puffy. So she really had been crying a lot. She was wearing her home clothes and her hair was a tangled mess. Sighing Flint looked down at his own boxers and hoped she wouldn't mind.

Smiling, he leaned over and gently kissed her lips. Then he stepped back and waited for her to wake up. At first, all that happened was her eye twitched. Then she licked her lips and slowly her eyes began to open half-way. Squinting, she glanced at Flint. _She's probably not wearing her contacts, but I'm sure she'll still recognize who I am._ Flint grinned.

"FLINT!" she screamed suddenly and fumbled her glasses onto her face. As she got up the tissue box fell off her stomach and onto the floor. Not wasting a single second, she ran over to him and threw her hands around his neck and buried her face into his neck.

He was happy that he had recognized her. But he was even happier to have her in his arms. Slowly he stroked her hair and then kissed the top of her head. She looked up at him with eyes glazed in tears.

"This isn't a dream is it?" she was crying with happiness.

"No." he whispered and pressed his forehead to hers.

Flint then took her cupped her face with his hands and kissed her deeply. She hugged him tighter and kissed him back. When they were out of breath, they broke apart, but their faces were still inches away from each other. She looked into his eyes and he looked back into hers. Then she kissed him again, even if she was out of breath and as she stepped back, she tripped and fell on the couch. She ended pulling him on top of her.

"Flint, why are you in your boxers?" she smiled and stopped kissing him for a second.

"Long story. I'll explain later." He grinned her kissed her forehead.

She sighed and then they shifted around so that they lay side by side. This was what she wanted. Just to have Flint next to her and to kiss him.

That night after she had poked her head into Denis' room because he had some bad dream, she had come downstairs and made herself a cup of tea. After the tea, she began to cry. The tears were pouring out of her and she had kept on thinking about how Flint hadn't come home for dinner. Then she had taken the tissue box on the couch and just sat there hoping and praying that Flint was alive.

To her it was a miracle that he had come. When she had sat on the couch, she had told herself that he'll probably come by the morning. And here he was. Just like she had hoped. Now all she hoped for was for him to never to be kidnapped again. She didn't even know who kidnapped him. But that was for later. As they lay there, Sam took in a happy deep breath.

"So is everything okay now?" she asked.

"Everything WILL be okay, starting now." Flint told her and kissed her neck.

Now it was his turn to hope.

xxx

"BREAKFAST IS READY!" Sam called from the kitchen. She was at the stove flipping pancakes. Flint, Brent, Reg, Jag and Denis were all fighting over the upstairs bathroom sink. Fran was up there with them. Only Esto sat at the kitchen table sipping his morning coffee. He was happy to finally be in his wheelchair and not to be carried around.

"Use The Angelica Method to get them downstairs. Threaten them." Esto smiled as he took a big hearty sip.

Sam came away from the stove holding her spatula. Furrowing her eyebrows at Esto in confusion, she stared at him. But he just smiled and gestured at the hallway. Taking a deep breath, Sam walked out of the kitchen and stood at the foot of the stairs. Then she wondered how Angelica would do this. Of course Angelica would do it better, but she had to try. Esto made it sound like it worked.

"I GIVE YOU TEN SECONDS TO GET DOWN HERE OR I'LL, I'LL… I'LL COME UP THERE WITH THIS SPATULA!" Sam shouted. That was the best she could do.

Denis was first to poke his head out of the bathroom and looked down at Sam. Then Brent looked over his shoulder and then Reg and Jag. Flint came out with Fran in his arms. Sam waved the spatula at them and planted one hand on her hip. All raised their eyebrows as they looked down at her. She tapped her foot impatiently and then nodding to each other, they all disappeared back in the bathroom.

In exactly ten seconds they marched out and pushing each other hurried down the stairs. Flint went in front of them all, since he held Fran. In the kitchen, he buckled Fran into her high chair and then all five of them sat at the table. Everyone chorused a 'good morning' at Esto and he said one back.

The moment Sam placed the stack of pancakes on the table, everyone attacked the pile. Fran watched them and even found it entertaining and began to clap her hands. Sam rolled her eyes and wished she wasn't the only girl in the house (of course except for Fran). If Angelica were here, they wouldn't have attacked the pile like that. But then maybe they would have. Angelica would have probably just watched them and when they'd all begin to eat, she'd probably shot her 'glare' at them.

By then time everyone was seated and eating, Sam saw that there were still two pancakes left. She dumped those two in her plate and then got up to get Fran's baby food.

"So are you guys going to tell me and Denis what happened to you all?" Sam asked and sat down and began to feed Fran.

"Well, first of all before we get to it all, I just want to say that I saw Angelica." Flint replied and glanced at Denis.

When Denis heard that, he clutched his fork harder and gulped. He remembered his dream. She was injected there. _Is she okay? Is she injected? Is Albert with her? Oh the bastard better not hurt her! _Denis thought to himself and grabbed the maple syrup bottle. He drenched his pancakes in it and then slammed the bottle back on the table. Worry was boiling inside him.

"So it began when I woke up in a cell. Angelica was in the cell too and…" Flint began to tell Denis and Sam about what happened underground.

Even if he didn't want to he had to tell everyone how Angelica freed him and herself from the bracelets (how she got the remote) after the meeting, he had to. Denis would have asked anyway. Or someone would have anyway.

The reaction on Denis' face was horror. He ended up blowing out a sigh and just shaking his head. Flint just watched him. He didn't know what feeling Denis had for Angelica, but Flint could see that there was something.

**A/N: For this chapter I shoved my suspenseful self into the closet and decided to have one chapter without suspense. But in the next one, I'll bring it back. Please R&R! =)**


	17. Chapter 17: Finding things out

**A/N: I think this fanfic will be shorter than "All is not forgotten". Maybe by six chapters or so. But it won't be any more than what "All is not forgotten" was. I hope. Anyway, thanks guys for the reviews! (Nameless Reviewer-don't worry I watched all the trailers and the clip where he gets torn. They were okay, but I'm not a Transformers fan. Sorry.) In this chapter I think I'll come back to the suspense. I swear before writing these CWACOM fanfics, I was never a 'suspense' writer. **

Cold steel. Dark room. Raising her head, Angelica looked around. She was lying on a long steel table. The room was dark, but a bright light was shining down on her. She touched her head and felt the fabric of a hat. She pulled it off her head and looked at it. It was a purple knit wool beret. When she got up, she saw some clothing on a chair with a note that read '_put these on'_. She picked up the clothes and inspected them. There was a V-neck long-sleeved purple shirt, a black long mini skirt and then tall black leather boots.

Frowning she looked down at the clothing and shook her head. The last time she wore a long mini skirt it had been high school. She didn't like the skirt. But the boots and shirt were nice. She put those on and finally rolling her eyes she slipped into the skirt. But she didn't like it. What happened to a comfortable pair of jeans?

Muttering something under her breath, she came over to the door and kicked it open. The hallway was empty. Then she heard footsteps coming and a couple of voices. Gasping, she pressed her back to the wall and listened in.

"I think she'll tell us now what the map is about. I gave her an overdose of the Injection Liquid." She heard a gruff voice.

Suddenly, Richard stood there with Albert by his side looking at Angelica. Raising an eyebrow, Richard stared at her.

"Are you okay? You look like you've woken up from a nightmare." Richard asked.

But she just blinked and dusted herself off and Richard motioned for him to follow him. As they walked down the hallway, Angelica noticed the tubes that were running through Albert were gone. She walked beside him and as she walked she felt as if her head was suddenly heavier. It was the Injection Liquid there, ripping apart most of her good, happy thoughts.

"When did they take the tubes out?" she asked Albert.

He took a frightened step away from her. She had already smacked him in the face and he had been knocked out. He didn't want to end up beaten up again. But then he remembered she was Injected and relaxed.

"Earlier today." He nodded and they reached another familiar hallway. From there, they entered the Main foyer.

She nodded and followed him through the door to the Meeting Room. John sat there at the table fiddling with a pen. When he saw Angelica enter, he smiled at her. But she didn't even look at him. Instead she sat down beside him, without saying a single word. Albert and Richard sat across from them.

"Okay. I just have to say that we are wasting too much time. We haven't accomplished ANYTHING! Five of our Codes ran away! They'll probably tell everyone out there that these underground passages are under the Sardine Factory! Maybe we could move into the ones under the Grand Central Station. But first, I need to know what DOES THIS MAP MEAN?" Richard shouted and slammed the _Lockdown for Swallow Falls_ map onto the table.

He was glaring at Angelica. She looked up at him and then took the map from him to inspect. Then her eyes glowed and she smiled to herself as she looked it over.

"First of all, do you guys even know who built and dug out the tunnels we are in right now?" she demanded and stood up.

Blinking in confusion, Richard shook his head. Albert stared at her and then his eyes slowly began to widen. Slowly he shrunk back in his seat as if he knew something.

"We did." He whispered.

"Huh?" Richard and John asked at the same time.

"Correct. Albert and I dug out these tunnels long ago. They may seem like they go on forever, but it's just you going around in circles. These tunnels don't go very far. Though they DO connect to four basements in ChewandSwallow. Can anyone guess where they connect to?" she asked and looked at her small audience.

This was what Albert didn't know. He tapped his chin and creased his eyebrows in concentration. The only basement he could think of was to the basement in Shelbourne Manor. It probably connected to Angelica's lab. That was one. The others he had no idea about.

John was thinking about it and he did think of one basement too. It wasn't Angelica's lab, since he didn't know about that. But it was the basement of the house that he lived in along with his wife and Angelica, when they moved into ChewandSwallow long ago. After Angelica got married, John and his wife moved away and no one really bought the house after. Someone could be living there now, but John didn't know.

Richard was the one who was completely clueless. He knew nothing.

"Well one connects to my lab; one connects to the basement of the house I lived in as a kid, the basement of Tim and Fran Lockwood's house, and the McHale's house. The reason it connects to Tim and Fran's house was because I was best friends with Fran back in the day and these tunnels have something to do with the map. But I'll explain that later. The McHale's were friends of mine, so that really the reason for their basement. The other two are pretty obvious." Angelica smiled and looked back down at the map.

That was when Richard's eyes widened.

"That house that you lived in as a kid, someone lives in there now. It's Flint and Sam Lockwood, along with their daughter." Richard told her.

John gasped. _So someone DID move into that house. Oh no… Flint and Sam are in trouble now._ John thought. He wished he could warn the two without Richard finding out. But he couldn't. Richard kept a good eye on him. Any day now, Richard will find out that John isn't really injected. Then that will be pretty bad. Right now, John didn't worry about that. They all had access to Flint and Sam's house, with meant that Richard could break in anytime he wanted. If that was Richard's plan. _Damn, I don't even know what the plan is, and we are dealing with a map. Is it to take over something? Why can't Richard just calm down and go live a peaceful life? Why can't everyone just live in peace? Oh man, now that I think about it…this is my entire daughter's fault. Angelica invented the Injection Liquid, Angelica dug these tunnels, and Angelica made this map. _

"I know that." Angelica smiled and looked up.

"So will you explain the map now?" Albert asked impatiently.

"Nope. You'll have to wait a bit longer," Angelica smiled mysteriously and adjusted her beret, "and what's with the purple and black clothing?"

"You still didn't figure it out? Ha! Well I'll explain later. Maybe." Richard cackled.

Angelica down at her clothing and tried to think of the reason behind them. Now that she thought about it—where had she worn this outfit before? That's when the answer hit her. Her eyes widened and she took a step back. The chair behind her fell to the floor, but she didn't care. Richard's plan was horrible. Evil and cruel. She knew exactly what it was.

All she could hear now was Richard's evil laugh that echoed through the vast room. She knew why he wanted to know about the map, why he was assembling this League and about everything else. But her injected mind kept telling her not to worry and to play along with the plan.

All the scrambled puzzle pieces of what happened these few days, all the unanswered questions while she was with the League of DBTC, and all that happened when Flint had invented the FLDSMDFR were all coming together. It felt like a blow to her mind. A lot of questions were suddenly being answered and now she knew everything.

Why hadn't she figured it out before? WHY?

xxx

Denis walked down the street with Brent and the henchmen following close behind. They were all heading off to the football field at the high school. Today the school had a day off, so the field was going to be free. While everyone would be playing football, Esto was planning on sitting in the sidelines and drawing them playing football. As they walked, Denis threw up the football and caught it perfectly.

"Maybe we should go down into the tunnels? I have this strange feeling in my gut, like something bad is gonna happen." Denis stopped throwing the football and threw it at Brent. He caught it and glared at Denis.

In the past hour, Denis kept on worrying about what was going on down the in the tunnels. At first, everyone told him to calm down. Now no one even said anything. It was getting on everyone's nerves.

"Dude, chill. Your girlfriend is fine." Jag told Denis and caught the football that Brent threw at him.

"She is NOT, I repeat NOT my girlfriend!" Denis gritted his teeth and clenched his fists at hi sides.

They entered the school's grounds and walked around back to the field. Denis glared at Jag, but Jag just smiled and began to sing '_Denis and Angelica sitting in the tree…'_ Denis just stomped away onto the field and Brent ran after him. Reg, Esto and Jag followed. Jag threw the football at Brent; who missed and the football landed at Denis' feet.

"How about we play Brent and me, vs. you and Reg?" Denis called to Jag.

Reg and Jag came over and Jag nodded in agreement.

"And if we win, you have to stop singing that childish song!" Denis glared at Jag and held out his hand.

"You're on!" Jag shook Denis' hand a little too hard. But Denis gripped it just as hard and angrily shook it off in the end.

They stood at the center of the field and Jag bent down to hold down the football to the ground. Denis knelt down in front of him, ready to tackle if needed. Reg and Brent stood around them, at either side. Jag looked up to look at Denis.

"Denis and Angelica sitting in the tree K-I-S-S-I—" but Jag never got to finish. Esto blew the whistle and he had to throw it at Reg.

But anger was filling up inside Denis and he tackled Jag. Before the ball, could be thrown to Reg, Denis wrestled it from Jag and threw it in a spiral over his head at Brent. When Denis got up, Jag got up too and shoved Denis back to the ground. Then Jag ran off laughing.

The game went on for a while like this, with Jag teasing Denis and then Denis punching Jag and eventually the game became a really violent one. Soon it was just Jag and Denis playing and Reg and Brent went to sit down on the grass next to Esto; who sat in his wheelchair with his sketch pad in his hand.

"What's the score?" Brent asked Esto.  
>"I have no idea. But I think those two will be playing till Jag gets tired of singing songs about Denis and Angelica and until Denis gets to pummel the lights out of Jag for good." Esto sighed and finally closed his sketchpad.<p>

"That could take a while. Jag never gets tired of teasing someone." Reg sighed and asked to see Esto's drawings.

"Oh man…" Brent rolled his eyes and fell back on the grass with an exaggerated sigh.

Not only could Esto not keep track of the score, but he also couldn't keep track of how many bruises Jag and Denis had so far. From where he sat, he saw that Denis had a black eye and Jag had a purple bruise on his arm.

"So much for playing football." Reg sighed.


	18. Chapter 18: Talking about destruction

**A/N: Sorry I didn't update. I went to see 'Source Code' (AMAZING movie. Go see it!) Friday night and yesterday I was sick and could barely get out of bed, let alone type. But I'm here to update today =)**

"Running through basements will get us arrested." Richard snapped at Albert as they walked down Main Street.

Just an hour ago, Angelica seemed to have gone insane, because she was walking around the room mumbling total nonsense under her breath. Richard knew it was the injection liquid messing with her and might actually completely destroy her and possibly kill her, but he wasn't worrying about that at the moment. That was the reason he had given her an overdose. To make her go crazy and soon lose her mind. But of course to also make her full of evil. He left her with John, who was trying to bring his daughter to her senses.

Right now he and Albert walked down the street that Flint, Sam, Tim, Brent, the henchmen and Denis all lived on. This was where the first few steps of his evil plan would come to life. There were three parts to his plan. Today he was going to TRY and get to two of them. Albert was heading to Flint and Sam's house and he was off to the high school football field to see if the henchmen and Denis and maybe Brent were there.

"Okay, I'm off to the football field. You deal with the couple. Remember, son, don't get your temper up. Just talk as calmly as you can. I've sucked out practically all the injection liquid out of you, so you should be fine." Richard told him and jogged off.

Taking in a deep breath, Albert nodded to himself and walked toward the house as calmly as he could…

In the living room Flint and Sam were teaching Fran to walk. Flint sat at one end of the room and Sam at the other. Fran sat in Sam's lap. She got up, holding on to Sam's hand tightly.

"Franny, walk to daddy!" Sam pointed at Flint. Fran looked at Flint and tried to smile. That was something she still needed to learn to do.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Fran cried out happily and outstretching her little arms, she stumbled toward Flint.

Before she could reach him, she tripped, but Flint managed to catch her with a smile. She had walked almost the whole way. When Fran fell into Flint's arms, she got up and waited to instructed what to do next.

"Walk to mommy, Franny!" Flint pointed at Sam, "Mommy's right there!"

Fran cocked her head to the side like a puppy and her messy brown hair fell to the side too. She brushed it away from her face with a tiny palm and then looked over at Sam. She didn't seem to understand the word 'mommy' yet. Flint repeated what he had just said, but Fran just dropped to her knees and crawled over to Sam instead.

Both Flint and Sam laughed. But then the doorbell rang. Their laughter died down and Fran crawled over to the living room window. From there you saw who was at the door. Usually when the mailman came with the mail, Fran would be at the window waving at him. Fran did think it was the mailman and crawled over to the window. Flint and Sam still sat on the floor.

"Is it the mailman, Franny?" Sam asked and looked at her watch.

Except Fran scratched her head, but then beamed at waved out the window. She cried out happily and continued to wave. Flint figured the person outside had waved back. Getting to his feet, he went up to the door, while Sam went to the window.

Sam peeked outside and saw a man wearing a black overcoat, a black cap and sunglasses. He was smiling and waving at Fran; who was still waving back. Frowning, Sam couldn't really understand who the person was. But he seemed nice enough. She heard Flint open the door and then asked who the man was. Sam picked up Fran and walked over to the door too. The man stood there with a nice smile. If only he took off his sunglasses.

"Uh, can we help you?" Flint asked.

"I need to talk to you Flint. And Sam too." The man nodded.

Flint and Sam exchanged confused glances. They still didn't know who the man was.

"Who are you, may I ask?" Sam asked and adjusted her hold on Fran in her arms.

"Please, don't freak out when I show you who I am. I'm just here to TALK. That is all. Nothing else. Then I'll leave." The man told them.

Slowly, the man removed his sunglasses and looked at Flint and Sam with calm grayish-blue eyes. A gasp came from Sam and she took a big step back. Flint snatched up the closest thing to him (an umbrella from the umbrella stand by the door) and gripped in his hand. Albert Shelbourne rolled his eyes and wrung out all his pockets. He had no weapons, nothing. He had nothing in his pant pockets, shirt pocket, suit jacket pocket, and nothing on the inside pockets of his coat. He even took off his hat.

Even if he had nothing, Flint was still skeptical. This guy had locked up him and Angelica and kidnapped Brent and the henchmen. It was hard to trust such a guy. But Flint was curious what he had to speak about. _But then what if Richard is positioned outside the house with a gun?_ Flint thought. He shook the thought away and clearing his throat, he told Albert to follow him into the kitchen.

Once Albert sat down at the table, Flint sat across from him and Sam sat down beside Flint. She placed Fran into her high chair and moved the high chair to be beside her. What worried Sam was having Albert Shelbourne and her daughter in the same room. He couldn't even handle his own daughter. Even Flint was nervous. This man hadn't done ONE good thing to Flint. Except that once upon a time, he had been good friends with Flint's parents. But when Flint remembered how Albert had tried to kill him… now he wished he could kick Albert out of the house.

"Okay. This is gonna be hard to tell you guys. So bear with me." Albert then dropped his head into his hands. He wished Richard could have gotten the job to Flint and Sam, and he could have gone to the football field. But the football field job was worse than this. _Just tell them and leave. It's simple as that._ Albert thought to himself and rubbed his eyes.

When he looked up to glance at Flint and Sam, both were waiting for him to start talking. Sam had crossed her arms over her chest and sat there with an expression that read you-make-one-wrong-move-and-I'll-kick you-out.

"Okay. Listen you have to understand that NONE of this is your fault. Everything that happened with the League of DBTC, now and even at the time with the FLDSMDFR isn't your fault. It's not mine either." Albert began slowly.

"WHAT ARE YOU TA—" Sam got up in her seat, but Flint took her hand and pulled her back into her seat. Fuming, she sat back down, but got up to go get something for Fran to do whiles she sat there. She came back with a box of crayons and a piece of paper. Handing it to Fran, she sat back down.

"We could all start over. I mean it. We could erase what destroyed us and then start over. I could still be Mayor; Flint, your mother could be alive again. We could bring her back. We'll bring back Lucio, Joe Towne, Patrick Patrickson and even Marie. It can be done." Albert sighed and looked at him and Sam.

Flint blinked at Albert. His mother. And all those people he mentioned. Was that the 'Undead' section of the League of TUIP? But there are only three slots for the 'Undead'. He mentioned five. But still. Flint imagined having his mother back. Then Esto's brother; Lucio could be brought back. Except what was this that supposedly 'destroyed' everything.  
>"So what do we need to get rid of? I want to know first." Flint demanded.<p>

There was a short silence. Then Albert dropped his head into his arms and his shoulders heaved with sobs. He grabbed a tissue from the box on the table and he turned his head to look at them. He blew his nose loudly and Sam and Flint exchanged glances.

"It wasn't our faults. I was injected and so were a lot of other people. Who invented the injection liquid? That's who we have to terminate." Albert looked at them with wide eyes and crumpled up the tissue in his hand.

A chill raced down Flint's spine.

"Angelica. You want to get rid of Angelica…" Sam then whispered. She looked at Albert and he began to sob again.

"Geez, if you don't want to do it, don't. She could live. Just destroy her inventions!" Flint then told him.

"It's not as easy as you think. I want to start over. We need to find a time to destroy her in." Albert explained.

"A time to destroy her in… OH NO! No! I am NOT dealing with Time Travel every again in my life!" Flint got up angrily and glared at Albert.

Sighing, Albert looked down at the table and uncrumpled his tissue. He blew his nose again and then took in a deep breath. But then he remembered that Richard told him not to lose his temper. If Flint didn't want Time Travel, then Albert was gonna have to find a different way to get rid of Angelica.

"But if we DID destroy or kill her, would you guys be fine by that?" Albert asked.

The same thought popped into Flint's and Sam's minds. What would Denis say? Even if he and Angelica weren't exactly a couple, they WERE really good friends. Almost best friends you could say. They rode roller coasters together, pulled pranks on each other, watched horror movies together, went to football games in the states, rode bikes in the rain, and once were caught standing in front of the mirror singing into hairbrushes.

"Not really. Denis would be heartbroken." Sam replied.

"Denis? Code 5? Why?" Albert blinked at them.

"He and Angelica are really good friends." Flint explained.

"As in girlfriend and boyfriend?" Albert's eyes widened.

"No. They're just friends." Sam nodded.

Albert nodded to himself, but ended up narrowing his eyes. He still had to get rid of Angelica. Even if it'll probably hurt him (and Denis). But he couldn't take this anymore. Maybe he should have listened to Richard years ago about marrying Angelica. Richard had said that their marriage would be the worst thing that ever happened to Albert. That wasn't true, but now it was. He needed to get divorced with her first. Then he could get rid of her. Or maybe he could get rid of her, without the divorce.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." Albert then replied and got up.

"Shelbourne. Don't you dare hurt Angelica." Flint got up too.

But Albert didn't listen to him. Instead he went into the hallway and slipped on his shoes, coat and hat. After that, he slipped out the door.

The moment he left, Flint was felt nervous. Angelica was in danger. So were his mother and the two other people Albert was gonna bring back to life. How were you supposed to bring a person back to life anyway? Flint didn't know.

_He's probably going to use Angelica to build him some invention and then get rid of her. _Flint walked to the window in the living room and looked out. Albert was heading down the street and soon disappeared from sight. What Fling also thought about was how Albert kept using the terms 'get rid', 'destroy' and 'erase' her when he referred to Angelica.

What he was probably thinking, was along the lines of 'murder', 'poison', 'blow up' 'kill'. This was Albert Shelbourne they were dealing with. What he just performed in front of Flint and Sam, could have been a total act. Who knew what was brimming in that mind of his?


	19. Chapter 19: It's time to save them

**A/N: Fran is one year and a half and I know she can only speak one word, but that IS possible. But don't worry, she'll speak some more soon =) What I've also realized it that when I visualize whatever I write, I imagine Albert Shelbourne slightly differently when he's around Angelica (but that's not always). A cross between the original Shelbourne in the movie and a short version of Matt Damon (actor). But then in all the other scenes I imagine him just like in the beginning of the movie. **

A dark cloud passed over the football field. Not a storm cloud, but a gray cloud that didn't seem like it was going to go anywhere for a long time. A chilly breeze swept through the field and Denis looked up at the sky. What happened to the weather?

His football game with Jag had ended a few minutes ago. It was Denis who surrendered. He slammed a last touchdown and then fell back on the grass with his breath coming out fast. Never had he played football like that. Jag just stood there running his hand through his reddish-brown curly hair. Sweat was all over his face and his face was pink. He sat down on the grass and looked over at Denis catching his breath.

"Sorry, Denis. I was only kidding." Jag grinned sheepishly and Denis just looked up at him. Denis then took off his shirt and fell back on the cool grass. He was exhausted.

The sky rumbled with thunder in the distance and Denis squinted up at the sky. What WAS up with the weather? Just a second ago, the sun was shining and the sky was baby blue. Now it was gray and rumbling. _Wait. The rumbling isn't the sky._ Denis realized and sat up. He hopped to his feet and his eyes widened. It was the ground rumbling. Jag seemed to notice too. Even Reg, Brent and Esto noticed it. They looked around with wide eyes.

Suddenly the rumbling got louder and Denis heard a loud creaking noise. Something began to rise out of the ground. It a wall. A giant, tall steel wall was raising around one side of the football field. All of a sudden, the other sides of the field grew the same steel walls. The football field became one big cage. Except the roof was the sky. But the walls squeezed so that no one could get out. Denis blinked and approached one of the walls. _What the hell?_ He thought and knocked on the wall. What happened? Where did the walls come from? Who is behind this?

"Beautiful isn't it?" came a loud booming voice.

Everyone looked up and saw that at the very top of one of the walls, sat Richard Shelbourne. He held a megaphone in one hand and the other gripped the wall. An evil smile was plastered on his face. He sat there and then pulled out a cigar from his pocket and lit it with a lighter from his other pocket. When he took in a deep inhale of the cigar, he blew out the smoke and looked down at Denis, Brent, Jag, Esto and Reg.

"What is going on? LET US OUT!" Denis yelled at came up to the wall and kicked it as hard as he could. But then he winced in pain the moment his foot made contact with the wall.

"I didn't create the walls. Angelica did. This is part of her Swallow Falls Lockdown. But it can do other things too. Not just walls. She activated it, and now I control it." Richard waved his cigar in the air.

"LIES! ANGELICA NEVER BUILD ANYTHING LIKE THAT!" Denis yelled and stomped his foot.

Richard hopped down from the wall and everyone was sure he was going to fall to the ground and break something. But he landed on his feet and slowly approached Denis. Esto, Brent, Reg and Jag slowly came to stand next to Denis, in case something happened. Denis slipped his shirt back on and folded his arms over his chest.

"You think you know everything about her, right? Well she and Fran Lockwood built the Lockdown system years ago. It's supposed to be used to protect the town, but I'd rather use it for evil. She had also said that the Lockdown map will only be activated if she and Fran are BOTH there to turn it on. Well, it turns out I didn't need Fran. I just forced Angelica into turning the system on." Richard smiled evilly.

There was a silence. But Richard pulled something out of his trench coat pocket and smashed it on the ground. A pink smoke circled then air around them. Richard covered his nose, but the others didn't have time. They all dropped to the floor. Esto slumped back in his wheelchair. A loud evil laugh came from Richard, when he waved the smoke away. Then he pulled out a small screen out of his pocket and laid it next to Denis.

"You'll never win, Loquesto." Richard snapped…

His eyes snapped open and Denis bolted up. Blinking in confusion, he looked around. He was in the football field. All alone. The walls were gone and so were Brent, Reg, Jag and Esto. This time the wheelchair was gone too. _What happened? Why'd I black out? Where'd the walls go? Did Richard kidnap the others?_ Denis's eyes widened and he glanced around.

A small screen a little bigger than his hand was on the grass beside him. He picked it up and tapped the screen. Instantly, a blue light appeared on the screen and then a play button appeared. Furrowing his eyebrows, Denis tapped the play button and watched the screen.

There was a dim room. Then the camera moved and now it was focused on a chair. A woman with wavy brown hair sat slumped in the chair. She wore a long-sleeved purple shirt, a black mini skirt, and black knee-high boots. Ropes tied her to the chair. Her arms were tied back; her legs, and then a rope twisted around her stomach to her chest and almost reached her throat. Her head was drooped forward and she looked dead.

It was Angelica.

A loud snapping noise passed through the room and she lifted her head. Her clear blue eyes were wide and her face was wet with old tears. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and then opened them again.

"What year is it?" came a voice from behind the camera.

"1988." Angelica whispered and then shook her head. When she looked up, her eyes were wild.

"How old are you Angelica?" the voice asked.

"21 years old." Angelica sighed and then she struggled against the ropes. A loud cry escaped her she screamed for at least a minute.

"No, dear. It's the year 2011 and you are 44 years old." came the voice that Denis now recognized. It was Albert Shelbourne.

"Really? B-but what is going on then? Where's Marie?" she asked and looked at the camera with wide eyes. Her eyes traveled to Albert (who was standing behind the camera) and she couldn't tear her eyes off him.

This was killing Denis. It was ripping his heart. He wanted to throw the screen across the football field. He was going to find Albert and kill him. What happened to Angelica? _Has she seriously lost her mind?_ Denis thought and continued to watch the video.

"Angelica, it's the year 2011, YOU ARE 44 YEARS OLD AND MARIE IS _DEAD!_" Shelbourne then snarled at her.

She shrunk back in her seat and for a second she was calm. Then something flashed through her eyes and she was quiet. Then Shelbourne came away from the camera and came to stand next to her. Then he leaned down at her.

The next bit of the video, probably burned Denis's brain into a million pieces. He couldn't watch anymore. It was ripping him on the inside and he felt like he was going to exploded. When the moment passed, Denis gulped and gripped the screen tightly. _I am getting myself over there and kicking Shelbourne's ass so hard…_ Denis thought angrily to himself. The video stopped with Shelbourne turning off the camera.

Denis poked the screen, but the video was there again. Angrily, Denis snapped the screen in half with all his might. Then he threw the two halves as far as he could across the football field. _That's it. That's it. I don't care if I die. I will save Angelica no matter what. And I will get rid of Shelbourne, even if he is freaking immortal._ Denis growled to himself.

xxx

The first thing Denis did was head to Angelica's lab. From there he got The Shape-shifter and slipped that on his belt. When he got out of there, he immediately raced to Flint and Sam's house.

Once he reached their house, he banged loudly on the door. He needed to speak with them. Flint opened the door. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Denis standing there.

"Listen, I really need your Spray-on shoes can." Denis explained to him.

"Huh? Why?" Flint demanded and let Denis into the house.

"Reg, Jag, Esto, and Brent were kidnapped, Angelica has lost her mind, and some kind of Lockdown map has been activated! I need to save everyone done there and get rid of Richard and Albert!" Denis told him as fast as he could.

Flint didn't say anything. He tapped his chin. Next he told Denis about Albert Shelbourne's visit. Denis listened and by the end was looking down at the ground. All he did was let out a loud sigh and rubbed his forehead.

"Why is everything so _complicated_?" he shook his head and glanced up at Flint.

"I dunno. But I'm coming with you. You can't do this alone. Just wait on the porch, I'll be right back." Flint told him and Denis nodded and went to sit on the porch steps.

Sighing, Flint closed the front door and went into the living room. Fran was asleep in her playpen. She must have gotten tired. Right after Shelbourne left, she became hyper and must have tired herself so much, that she fell asleep.

Sam came down the stairs and entered the living room. She came over to Flint and asked what was wrong. He told her that Denis had come and explained how they had to rescue Angelica, Reg, Jag, Esto and Brent. Sam faced him and slowly took his hand. He looked into her green eyes.

"I don't want to lose you again. You could have died the last time." Sam whispered and then hugged him. He hugged her back and stroked her back.

"I'll come back. I always come back." Flint then let go of her and looked at her deeply.

Both of them stood there, listening to Fran's breath come out soft and slow from where she slept. When they looked at their daughter, Flint put an arm around Sam and she buried her face into his chest. Flint imagined Fran's sweet face in his mind and the way she always said 'daddy' whenever she saw him. He was gonna do this for her and for Sam too. He wanted Fran's future to be 'Shelbourne-free'.

Next, he turned to Sam and she faced him. Gently, he took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply on the lips. After kissing her, he moved his lips to her ear and dropped his hands around her waist.

"Everything will be okay." He whispered and his lips then grazed her cheek.

She nodded quietly and leaned her head against his chest. Sighing, he hugged her and just held her there. Finally he let her go and slowly left the room. Sam just stood there and wrapped her arms around herself. She listened as the front door opened and then heard Denis's voice. The front door closed and she heard them walking down the creaking porch steps.

Sucking in her breath, she came up to the window and watched them walk down the driveway. She watched them and realized how different the two were. Denis with his brown and blonde hair, tight black t-shirt, skinny jeans, and white sneakers and then Flint with his spiked crazy brown hair, white lab coat, jeans, and glittering Spray-on shoes. When Flint explained to her why Denis had come, he had also said that Denis needed the can of Spray-on shoes.

She knew the Spray-on shoes saved Flint once. Maybe this time they could save him and a couple of other people too.


	20. Chapter 20: Broken

**A/N: I promise all your questions will be answered in the story soon. The ending is coming soon. But I need to ask one question: do more of you guys support DenisXAngelica or AlbertXAngelica? I need to know, so I can start thinking about this part in the story that's gonna bring down everything. I've tried writing the scene with Denis and then if I do it with Albert. Please tell me, which couple do you support more? Plus there is a flashback in this chapter (it's in italics). **

"Listen, I'm sure you guys want things to be the way they were." Richard paced around the room. In front of him sat Esto, Reg and Jag. All were tied up. Reg and Jag were tied to chairs and Esto just sat there in his wheelchair. He couldn't really go anywhere anyway.

Just a few minutes ago, they woke up to find themselves back in the tunnels. Richard began to explain to them how he wanted to get rid of Angelica and maybe bring back Marie, Fran and Lucio. When his brother was mentioned, Esto lifted his head. He remembered how it was all Albert's fault that Lucio died. No, he was killed. Murdered. In the New York hospital's hallway. _But Shelbourne had been injected back then. So if you think about it, it was Angelica's fault. But it was Shelbourne's fault for snooping in her lab. Why did Angelica even leave for London, England anyway? And why did Shelbourne inject himself in the first place? What made him?_ Esto thought to himself. Now that tried to piece everything together, more questions came to his mind.

"So your plan is to get rid of Angelica, and that's it?" Esto crossed his arms over his chest.

"No. That's Part 1. There's another part to the plan. But I'm not telling you what it is." Richard looked away.

Esto glanced at Reg and Jag. Both were just as confused as he was.

"So you get rid of Angelica and you bring Lucio back? And how do you plan to bring him back? Huh?" Jag challenged Richard with a smirk on his face.

When Richard didn't answer they assumed that he didn't figure that part out yet. But Esto knew that there was no Time Machine, so there really wasn't any other way. Unless Richard dug out the dead bodies from the ground and found some way to bring them back to life. Now Esto didn't want his brother back. He didn't want to change time. His brother died, end of story. It's time to move on with life. Same with Marie and Fran. They died, that's it. Everyone dies eventually.

"I know how to create holograms. I can make one of Lucio. I already did one with Marie." Richard looked at them. But Esto shook his head. A hologram was just a moving picture. That didn't count.

"How about you just let us go and get with life? Why go through all this trouble?" Reg then replied from where he sat in his tied up chair.

"How about you shut up right now and let me think!" Richard spun around and glared at Reg. Rolling his eyes, Reg looked away.

Other than Angelica being killed soon, all three of them worried about what was happening to Brent at the moment. He wasn't in the room when they woke up. They wondered if he was being injected somewhere. That wouldn't be good.

"…and set up the explosives in the center section and along the deep ends." They suddenly heard Richard speak into a phone.

All three froze. Explosives. Richard was telling someone to set up explosives. Where? In the town? The tunnels? This was bad. They needed to get out of the tunnels and go warn Flint, Sam and Denis above in the town. _What'll happen if the tunnels get all bombed up? Will the town cave in along with them? _Jag thought from where he sat. He was never good with problems like that. But he assumed the town might cave in. He promised himself to ask Reg later, since Reg was the smart one. _Or maybe the tunnels collapse and nothing happens to the tunnels. But the town must be protected. We HAVE to warn someone!_ Jag thought.

He began to struggle in his chair. Then he tried to rip the rope with his teeth. That didn't seem to work. He glanced around and then had an idea. It was a pretty simple one. Richard was so stupid to leave Esto not tied up.

"Psst! Esto!" Jag hissed at Esto, while Richard continued talking on the phone.

"What?" Esto hissed back.

"Can you untie the ropes on my wrists?" Jag asked him in a whisper. Then he tried to slide the chair closer to Esto. Reg watched him with wide eyes.

Nodding, Esto wheeled his wheelchair quietly closer to Jag. Then reaching forward, Esto began to untie the ropes on Jag's wrists, with were tied behind the chair. Once he was done, Esto wheeled himself back to where he was positioned and sat there looking as innocent as possible. Jag still kept his arms behind his back, in case Richard turned around.

Jag had an idea. He kicked Reg's foot with his foot as hard as he could. Reg yelped in pain and glared at Jag. When Richard spun around, Jag cleared his throat and side-glanced at Reg. Reg understood and then pretended to look like he was in a lot of pain.

"Oh my leg! It HURTS!" Reg cried out and Jag tried not to burst out laughing. Reg was probably the world's worst actor.

"What happened?" Richard demanded and Reg moaned in pain.

"Jag kicked me!" Reg whined.

"Oh c'mon! You guys act like you're a bunch of five year olds!" Richard threw his arms helplessly into the air.

"I think it might be bleeding!" Reg cried out and even pretended to faint.

Richard rolled his eyes, "Oh god help me," but in a louder voice said, "I'll go get something to stop the bleeding." Richard sighed and then left the room.

The moment he left, Jag grinned. Quickly he brought his arms from behind the chair and began to untie his ropes.

"You're a terrible actor. I'm kicking Esto next time." Jag told Reg.

"Hey!" Esto cried.

Once Jag was untied, he got up from his chair.

"I'm gonna go up and warn someone." Jag told Esto and Reg.  
>"And what? Leave us here to die?" Reg demanded. But Jag shook his head and promised he'll back soon.<p>

When he left them room, Reg sighed loudly and slumped back in his chair. He wondered where these explosives were and when were they to go off. But maybe that was how Richard planned to get rid of Angelica. He didn't even have to touch her. The explosion would kill her. Richard, Albert and John will probably run out of the tunnels before they exploded. Unless the explosion would happen up in the town. But Reg could tell the explosives were in the tunnels. The Lockdown took care of everything else in the town.

xxx

_The room glowed a green glow and then it all stopped. The lights flickered back on and a loud sigh came from the only person standing in the room. Angelica Rita Oreant pulled off her goggles and wiped her hands on her lab coat. She had to remember to wash it later. _

_Right now she was in her lab and had just finished with her latest invention. Why she had invented it, she didn't really know. It was just something she wanted to try out. But she was proud of it. The only thing she didn't know was whether it was going to work. That she was going to find out later, when she tested it. _

_Slowly, she peeked into her beaker. Hissing, bubbling black goo was in there. It looked like it was alive or something. But she didn't care if it looked so gross. The color just didn't look right. She wished it something else, other than black. _

_Now all she had to do was show it to Albert and then she could test it later. Smiling to herself, she skipped over to the entrance to her lab and opened up the door. When she stepped into the basement, she sucked in some air and then shouted as loud as she could so that he could hear her from upstairs._

"_ALBERT! COME SEE MY LATEST INVENTION!" Angelica shouted._

"_COMING! I'M PUTTING MARIE TO BED!" he shouted back. She smiled to herself and heard his footsteps upstairs. _

_Then he came down the basement stairs. He smiled at her and followed her into her lab. When he entered, he ignored the smell and approached the beaker filled with the black goo. She followed. _

"_So… what is it?" he asked and eyed the substance. _

"_A few drops of that are injected into you and your mind turns all thoughts into evil. The only thing that can beat the liquid is love and happy thoughts. I think I'll call it… The Evil Injection Liquid!" she beamed proudly. _

_Albert nodded and watched the liquid. Then he imagined himself with The Evil Injection Liquid in him. Maybe one day he could try it out. Just not now. But he wished he could try it out. _

"_I'm proud of you. But when will you need it?" Albert put an arm around her._

"_I really don't know." She shrugged. Then she turned to glance at him._

"_Promise me, you will NEVER touch this invention." She told him._

_His eyes were cast down. She touched his shoulder and he finally looked up. Next thing he knew, he was nodding. An awkward silence followed and he broke it a few seconds later. _

"_Well, Marie must be wondering where I went. Maybe I'll come down later. Or you come upstairs." Albert smiled at her and squeezed her shoulders, before he left the lab and closed the door behind himself. _

_When he left, she glanced at The Evil Injection Liquid. Maybe now was a good idea to test it. But then she really needed to work hard and bring her happy thoughts back in order to get rid of it from her brain. _

_Taking in a deep breath, she picked up an empty syringe off her table and slipped the needle into the beaker. When the syringe got some of the liquid, she closed her eyes. She was afraid. Without saying anything to herself, she took off her lab coat and then rolled up her t-shirt sleeve. As a child she had always been afraid of needles. Now she had to do it to herself. That scared her even more. _

_Before she knew it, she injected herself in her upper arm. She pressed the back end of the syringe and watched as the black liquid slip out of the syringe and under her skin. Her face paled and she pulled the syringe out. For a moment nothing happened. She felt nothing. But after that she felt something cold run under her skin and her arm felt cold. That's when she got a headache. It really came out of nowhere. _

_Crying out, she clutched her head and dropped to her knees on the floor. The pain. Oh the pain. It was the most awful thing she had probably ever experienced. Something clicked in her mind and she screamed. _

_ The next day was when she, Albert and Marie had gone to the park and she yelled at Albert for dropping Marie. It wasn't her yelling. It was her injected mind telling her to yell those things at her husband. That night, she fell asleep on the couch with Albert. _

_ In the morning, Albert found her spot on the couch empty. All her things were gone. Except for things in her lab. That was when Angelica had left. _

Now that Angelica remembered that memory, she felt her heart ripping. The next time she had seen Albert was that day when he walked into the headquarters for The League of DBTC. He had been injected. Denis had been injected back then too. They all had been.

_It was all my f***ing fault. I created the monsters inside Albert, Denis, Joe, Patrick and myself back then. Even Sam had been injected once! _Angelica shook her head, from where she sat in her chair. Albert had kissed her and then left the room an hour ago.

_But HE made the choice to invade my lab and inject himself. He even promised not to touch it._ Angelica bit her lip.

Her mind spun with memories. Recent ones. But Denis had kept every single promise. Albert hadn't.

"I need to ask myself. Do I still love Albert Shelbourne?" she whispered to herself.

She thought about holding Denis's hand when they rode roller coasters and then thought about holding Albert's hand during scary movies. She remembered how she and Denis stood in front of the mirror singing into hairbrushes early one morning. Had she ever done that with Albert? No. He'd rush off to work every morning. He had to support the family and all.

Now that she thought about it, she had shared more good laughs and smiles with Denis. But she had shared more love with Albert.

Plus recently, she started to notice that Denis acted differently around her. He looked at her more and worried for her more. Did Albert fell that way to her _now_? She didn't really see any of that.

He wanted her dead. She was gonna die and he didn't bother to tell her that he was going to save her later or something. That kiss he had given her was probably a kiss to say 'goodbye'.

"I'm going to die. I am actually gonna die today. I never even said good bye to anyone. Not even Denis." She began to tear up.

Her poor mind was so confused that she wished she could hit her head continuously against the wall to set herself right.

**A/N: Please review on this chapter! Please answer the question in the top author's note. The next chapter is a big one and the one after that. Spray-on Shoes, The Shapeshifter and The Youth Ray will be used. =)**


	21. Chapter 21: Saving, Running, Exploding

**A/N: Okay. Here's comes the big chapters. I sat for at least an hour today thinking about which couple I support. I still didn't make up my mind. It's just so hard to decide. So as I write this chapter, I guess I'll go along with the story and see how things end up. And thanks guys for telling me who you like better with Angelica. It helped. **

"FLINT! DENIS! THE TUNNELS ARE GOING TO EXPLODE!" Jag screamed as he raced down the street from the Sardine Factory. This time he had actually been lucky, because Richard had forgotten to lock the tunnels down. Which meant the door was open and Jag easily escaped from the tunnels. As long as Richard didn't close them, they were okay.

Both Flint and Denis exchanged confused glances and ran toward Jag. Just a while ago, they had stopped by Flint's lab and there they had met a very angry Steve. The monkey hadn't seen Flint for such a long time and plus he was hungry too.

The lab was a mess. Boxes were all over the place and food wrappers from Flint's Secret (not-so secret anymore) Food Stash were littered all over the floor. Thankfully, Steve hadn't touched any of Flint's blueprints with was good. Once Steve was fed, Flint grabbed the Spray-On shoes can and he and Denis raced off to the tunnels.

When Jag reached them he was out of breath. Waiting a few minutes, till he took his breath, Jag stood there. Once he was fine, he explained to Flint and Denis about what he heard Richard say into the phone. Flint and Denis took the information in and then Flint stood there thinking for a moment. _We could save the tunnels. We can actually prevent them from collapsing. Well a part of them at least. _Flint's eyes glowed with an idea. Smiling, he looked down at his Spray-On shoes can.

"So we have to get in there, right _now_!" Jag cried and waved his arms. He was panicking. If they were too late, Reg and Esto would die. Plus Brent and Angelica.

"Okay. How about you guys go down and rescue Reg, Esto and Brent. I'll deal with Albert, Richard, and rescue Angelica." Denis told them.

"Deal. But please make it out in time. We don't know when the bomb will go off, so hurry." Flint nodded. Denis nodded to himself and watched Flint and Jag run off to the Sardine Factory.

He couldn't go. Not yet. Albert will see him and Richard will too. If Denis got caught and was injected it would the end of the world for him. So he pulled out The Shape-shifter out of his belt and held it in his hand. This was his key inside. Taking a deep breath, he typed in a few words into the machine and then pointed the gun at himself.

The Shape-Shifter jolted violently and then a bright green glow erupted from the tip. It washed over Denis and he felt a strange, but familiar pain burst through him. He dropped to the floor as his body changed and morphed into a different body. He became slightly shorter, his hair flattened and he felt lighter. When the green smoke died away, he got up. Now he just had to see his reflection.

There was a bunch of puddles near the Sardine Factory and he slowly approached those. Wincing, he peeked in. _Yep. I changed. _Denis thought and slowly touched the top of his head. It felt really, _really_ weird touching someone else's hair that was on his head. He had changed into Albert Shelbourne. It was the only way he could get into the tunnels without getting into trouble. As long as he didn't bump into the real Albert Shelbourne. That would just be messed up.

Taking in a deep breath to calm himself down, he dashed off to the Sardine Factory. When he stepped inside, he didn't really know where he was going. He had never been down in the tunnels yet. But across the room, he spotted an ajar door. He half expected it to be some closet, opening it, he found out it was a stairwell leading down. _The tunnels. This has been here ALL along and no one ever knew. Incredible. _Denis grinned.

The stairs spiraled downward. As he walked down, he felt a warm draft coming from below. _Isn't it supposed to be cold down there?_ He thought and hurried down the stairs. The moment he reached the last step, he saw an open door. Slowly he went through the door and appeared in a hallway.

"AAHHHH! IT'S ALBERT SHELBOURNE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" came a scream. Denis spun around and saw Flint and Jag standing there staring at Denis with wide eyes. Jag's face was pale. Flint took a step back, and Jag hid behind him.

"Guys, it's me. Denis." Denis raised an eyebrow. He pulled out The Shape-Shifter from his belt and held it out. Flint blinked and then relaxed. Jag still looked tense.

"Where did we go earlier today?" Jag demanded. He wanted to test him to see if it was really Denis.

"Uh, we went to play football and you were singing, uh, teasing me about me, uh, being with Angel—" Denis turned deep red. But Jag interrupted him.

"That's fine. You're Denis." Jag nodded and came out from behind Flint.

Denis didn't say anything. Instead he followed Flint and Jag. They went through a couple of hallways, and Denis wondered how big the place really was. If Richard wanted to bomb up the tunnels, and the tunnels were so big that you could get lost, then how big was the bomb in order to explode all the tunnels?

They entered the main foyer and Flint began to explain to Denis about some of the rooms. He pointed to the meeting room, where The League of TUIP usually met up and then Jag showed him into the room where Brent, Reg and Esto were currently in. Denis nodded and then they all heard footsteps coming.

Gasping, Jag and Flint ran into the room where Reg, Esto and Brent were and closed the door behind themselves.

"We'll see you in the Sardine Factory after the explosion. Or sooner." Flint told Denis before he had closed the door.

"Albert." Richard suddenly appeared from the meeting room.

Gulping, Denis tried not to freak out and stood up straighter. Richard walked over to him.

"The bomb goes off soon. John is already in the town waiting for us in the café. We'll join him once we blow up the tunnels. After we get out of the town and make a run for it. Part 2 of my plan is going to down tomorrow morning. I want you to head to the closet and grab the inventions from the closet, before you join us. We are taking them with us." Richard replied and Denis nodded like he knew what Richard was talking about.

The moment Richard went into one of the rooms (not the one Flint and Jag entered), Denis's let out a small gasp. _What closet? What plan?_ Denis cried out in his mind. He ran over to the meeting room door and flung it open. It was empty in there. The table just had a newspaper and an empty coffee mug. Denis stepped into the vast room and his footsteps echoed as he walked. He walked to the other side of the room and began to search the wall for a hidden door or something.

One part of the wall was a more of a beige color than the rest of the white wall. Denis came over to that part and pushed the wall. A hiss came from the wall and then it slid open.

"Another hallway." Denis shook his head. This hallway was smaller and had three doors. Plus at the end, this hallway led into another one. Denis came over to the first door and swung it open.

"Bingo." He grinned.

It was a small closet. On the shelves sat what he knew were Angelica's inventions. There were small pieces of paper next to each invention. Denis picked up the first paper. These were the burner gloves. Glancing on the shelf, he saw a pair of glowing red gloves. On the side of each glove there was a dial. Denis took the gloves and slipped them into his pocket. Next to them sat a small jar filled with purple liquid. The paper next to the jar read 'Immortality Liquid'. _Whoa. So one sip of this stuff, and BAM! You never die. _ Denis picked up the bottle. The lid was on tight. He slipped that into his pocket too. Then came two small squares. He picked them up. They were made of some kind of metal and had little wires dancing on them. These were the Mind-Reader Patches. Richard wasn't wearing them.

He slipped those into his pockets and finally looked at the last invention. The Youth Ray. Denis's eyes glowed. It was a similar shape to The Shape-Shifter, except it was light blue with lavender swirls on the side. The tip was rounded off and Denis inspected it. There was dial on the side. It looked a lot like a locker lock. There were numbers from 0-60 on it. In the middle of the dial/lock there was the word 'Years'. He snapped The Youth Ray onto his belt next to the Shape-Shifter and then ran out of the room.

"About 10 minutes left till I let it blow." Richard voice crackled over the intercom. He sounded happy.

"No! No, no, no." Denis covered his face; uh, Albert's, with his hands and immediately drew his hands away. He couldn't wait till he was back in his own body.

Worry and anxiety was screaming inside him. Exiting the closet, he opened the second door and found it another closet there. No good. The last door was at the end of the hallway. Dashing over to it, he opened it.

There she was. Angelica sat in the chair with her head bend forward and her shoulders heaving with sobs.

"I'm going to die in 10 minutes. I'm going to die in 10 minutes. I'm going to die in 10 minutes." She cried to herself.

Denis approached her and she looked up. Her body went rigid and she watched as Denis knelt down in front of her. Quickly, he began to untie the ropes that held her ankles together. She watched him with wide, doe-like eyes. But she didn't say anything. When he untied the ropes on her waist, she leaned in forward and kissed him.

Denis didn't really know what to do. He was melting. When she drew away, she looked into his eyes.

"Thank you for coming back." She whispered.

Denis then remembered that he was in Albert's body and wanted to scream. Yes she actually kissed him and now he wished he could kiss her back, but he was in Albert's body and she… _NO! NO! NO! So she still likes Albert?_ Denis thought. But right now he knew he didn't have time for that. _What happened to her? I remember she used to freak out whenever she heard Albert's name or saw him! WHAT HAPPENED? She has lost her mind. _ Denis gulped. He untied the last of the ropes and grabbed Angelica's hand.

"We have to get out now. Follow me." Denis looked at her. He suddenly felt himself blushing. Even if it was technically 'Albert' she had kissed, he was there. So he drew his eyes away and then grabbed her hand.

"7 more minutes!" Richard sang into the intercom.

They raced out the room and down the hallway. The wall was jammed, so it took some time to finally push it, so it could slide aside. It opened and they ran through the meeting room and through the entrance door to the meeting room. Denis wished he was in his body. Albert's body wasn't made for running so fast. Out of the meeting room, they stood in the foyer.

"5 minutes!" Richard cackled.

In the foyer, Denis noticed the door to Reg, Esto's and Brent's room was wide open. Denis peeked inside that and saw that only Flint was in there. He was about to walk out. When he saw Denis and Angelica, he beamed.  
>"Well done, Denis! Hi, Angelica!" Flint nodded. Angelica blinked at him, when he called 'Albert' Denis. She glanced at Denis and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. But before she could say anything, a hissing came out of somewhere.<p>

Flint was spraying his Spray-On Shoes on the tunnel walls. But he wasn't covering the entire walls. Just the parts closer to the ceiling and some down the middle. Denis understood what he was doing. If the tunnels exploded, the Spray-On shoes substance might hold them together and prevent parts of it from collapsing. Flint raced around the foyer and then motioned Denis and Angelica to follow him into the hallway, toward the entrance.

"3 minutes! Okay, I'm outta here!" Richard snickered into the intercom. Denis wondered which room Richard was in. Then he remembered the room Richard had entered. Any second now, Richard will walk down this hallway and see Flint and Angelica. Denis began to panic. Flint too. They raced down the hallway and toward the hallway with the entrance. Flint sprayed the substance as he ran. When Denis looked behind him, he saw parts of the walls covered in glittering rainbow spray. Soon Flint stopped spraying, so he didn't waste anymore. There was hardly any left in the can.

"2 minutes!" Flint cried out.

"I know you're there Lockwood! I can hear you! You can't escape!" came a cry and Denis's eyes widened.

It was the real Albert Shelbourne. He running somewhere behind them. When Denis turned around he couldn't really see him, but he knew that he was close, by his voice.

The entrance was ahead. And it was locked with a big lock drilled in through the door. Flint gasped. Angelica glanced at the lock and frowned. Only Denis knew what to do. He reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out one Burner Gloved. Slipping it on, he turned the dial to 'extreme heat' and pressed his hand to the lock. Angelica watched him with wide eyes.

The lock began to melt away and then Denis put the glove away. They had very little time left. Once they pushed the door open, they began to run up the stairs as fast as they could. Flint pulled out his cellphone at one point to check the time.

"59 seconds, 58, 57…" he gasped for breath as they ran.  
>"You can't run away! I know Angelica is with you!" came Albert's voice from behind them.<p>

They door. The door to the Sardine Factory. They saw it ahead.

"45, 44, 43, 42…" Flint cried. He was first to reach the door and pushed it open.

They ran into the Factory itself and began to run across it. The Factory was bound to come down too.

"24, 23, 22…"

Just as they reached the door, everything was happening as if in slow-motion. Denis pulled The Shape-Shifter out of his belt and with shaking hands typed in his name, age and blasted himself. The moment Flint reached for the door handle they felt the ground grow hot and start to rumble. Flint's cellphone slipped out of his hands as the first rumbled passed through.

Then it happened. The very second they opened the door and shoved each other outside, there came a loud roar. At the same time, Denis pulled the Youth Ray out and turned to dial to 20. When the explosion happened, they were all thrown forward and Denis zapped the ray at Angelica. When the green light hit her, she screamed and Denis felt the Youth Ray slip out of his hands. Just as it slipped out, Denis saw Albert coming out after them with a look of horror on his face.

The Sardine Factory blew up and its structure began to fall to where Denis, Flint, Albert and Angelica were falling. It was like a million thunder claps crashing down.


	22. Chapter 22: Tears

**A/N: Since this fanfic is almost done, I'll be updating everyday, until I finish and when I'm done, I'll finish my other fanfics and then take a break from writing. And now here comes the heart-wrenching chapter; the aftermath. **

Silence. It was an ugly, dead silence. The air was thick with smoke and pieces of the Sardine Factory blown up all over the place. Other than the smoke and dust, there were little fires burning on the ground where the factory previously stood. The ground was sticky with fish oil that came from the exploded factory. Other than the fish oil spilled, there was blood that dripped from the injured group that made it out of the tunnels just in time.

Denis had busted his side and there was a long, deep gash that ran along his side and across his stomach. The right side of his face was matted with dried blood, from a small cut and rumble. He couldn't move. He didn't even know whether he was going to live. The moment he had hit the ground and his side and stomach gurgled out blood, he didn't even have time to scream out. Blackness had overcome him. _I'm going to die._ He thought weakly.

Very slowly, he lifted his head from the ground and turned to the side. Sighing, he rested his left cheek on the warm ground. His green eyes were glassy with tears as he tried to see what was lying a few feet away from him. His lip trembled and he squeezed his eyes shut. The pain. He couldn't take it. Gasping painfully, he opened his eyes and saw the bodies on the ground. Angelica was there and so was Albert. Flint was not too far too. But Angelica and Albert were closer to him.

Angelica was lying on her back. Her clothes were covered in dirt and dust. Her brown wavy hair was strewn out behind her and Denis saw that some of it was lined with blood. Her forehead was caked with blood. Squinting, Denis saw that the side of her lips were cut. Her other injuries, Denis couldn't see. But they probably under her clothes.

Albert's arm was twisted in an awkward angle. His clothes were torn and when he lifted his head, his eyes met Denis's. Wincing, Albert dropped his head. Denis saw that he had too, been hurt in the front. Right across the chest. Then he opened his eyes into slits and glanced at Angelica. Denis glanced at her too.

A slight moan came from her and her eyes opened half-way. Slowly, she turned her head to look at Albert and then at Denis. Her eyes rested on Denis. Denis gasped. She hadn't changed. She was still 44. _How?_ _What went wrong?_ Denis's eyes teared up again.

"It was you. You used The Shapeshifter to turn into Albert." She croaked in barely a whisper.

"Yes." He whispered back and held out his hand. She tried to stretch out hers, but couldn't reach his. She was still weak. Then she closed her eyes and shook her head. Next she raised her hand and touched her lips. When she glanced at Denis, he just nodded quietly.

"And the Youth Ray didn't work. You didn't turn it on. The green beam just hurts the body. You had to flick the switch and the beam of light had to be light blue." Angelica whispered and Denis heard that her voice was slowly getting weaker. She was losing strength.

Closing his eyes, Denis felt his heart throbbing inside him. The puddle of blood under him grew warm and wet as more came out from his wound. _All I wanted was to save Angelica and then love her. I love her. I do._ Denis let his heart take over his thoughts.

"Denis?" came a weak dying voice not too far from Denis.

His eyes flew open and he looked around. Flint. It was Flint calling him.

"We have to fight fire with fire. We can't die." Flint whispered, before he blacked out again.

Sighing, Denis looked at him. Flint's lab coat was covered in the same rumble that was everywhere else. The can from the Spray-On Shoes was gripped weakly in his hand. But otherwise, Flint looked fine. There were only a couple of scratches and cuts on his face. There could have been something worse, but Denis couldn't see yet.

The phrase 'fight fire with fire', Denis knew well. It meant if someone tries to bring you down, or if there is a situation that's not going your way, you have to fight through it just as strongly. You're fighting the "fire" with your own "fire". You're getting through the situation by being strong. Denis agreed. They couldn't die. They had to stay strong.

"You too, Flint. Stay awake. We still need to get Richard back for what he did." Denis whispered.

But no answer came from Flint. Denis looked over at the inventor and sighed. _I'll take a nap and wake up later. But I won't die. I won't let myself die. Or Angelica and Flint. Or Albert. _Denis thought and his eyes shut.

The last thing he heard was Angelica's voice whispering something to him and Albert. But he wasn't awake to hear it.

xxx

"Coming through! This is the ChewandSwallow Fire Department!" a couple of men pushed through the crowd that began to form around where the factory exploded. Earl had arrived in his cruiser and had to move the crowd back a bit.

"NO!" came a cry from the crowd. Everyone turned around and saw Sam holding Fran, Tim, Steve, Brent, Jag, Esto and Reg moving through the crowd to the front. The crowd let them through. The cry had come from Sam. She came to the front first and everyone else came to stand around her.

When she scanned the area for Flint, Denis and maybe Angelica, worry was lining her face. Tim stood next to her, scanning the blown up area with a look of distress on his face. They watched as some of the firemen began to put out some of the small fires, while others ran to find any survivors. One of the firemen cried out. Sam gasped and stood on her tip-toes trying to see who it was. In her arms, Fran was watching the scene with a crumpled forehead and then she looked up at Sam.

"Daddy?" Fran asked quietly. Sam looked down at Fran.

"I don't know, Franny." Sam stroked her daughter's soft hair and Fran buried her face into Sam's sleeve. Sam wondered how Fran would react if Flint was found dead. She was only 1 ½ years old, but Fran probably already knew how to feel sad and devastated if needed. Sam didn't even know how she was supposed to explain to a child at such an age that their father was gone. How was _she_ supposed to get over such a thing? _No. Flint isn't dead. I know he isn't._ Sam thought and watched the firemen began to carry four limp bodies over.

When the firemen laid them down, the crowd leaned in a bit to see who it was. A gasp came from the crowd and sad murmurs rippled through the crowd like small, growing waves. It was Flint, Denis, Angelica and Albert.

"Oh, no." Tim murmured sadly next to Sam. She looked at him and placed a hand on his arm.

"I don't think he's dead." Sam told him. Tim looked down at her and nodded to himself.

"Let's hope." He replied and watched the firemen check the bodies.

"COMING THROUGH!" came a new set of voices.

This time it was the ChewandSwallow Medical clinic team. They parked their ambulance on one side of the crowd and now pushed through it. Once the team came up to the bodies, the firemen went to check if any more bodies were out in the heart of the explosion site.

"Bring the stretchers!" one paramedic shouted and a couple of them ran toward the ambulance. She knelt down beside the bodies and checked for pulse and breathing.

Once the stretchers were brought, Flint, Denis, Angelica and Albert were loaded onto them.

"The guy with lab coat and guy with in the trench coat seem to be okay. The guy with the black t-shirt and the lady are close to death. Really close. They might not even make it to the clinic in time." Sam overheard the paramedic tell the rest of the team.

Sam was glad that Flint was going to be okay. Albert was defiantly okay. She knew that all along. He had the Immortality Liquid running through his veins, so of course he was going to live. But Denis and Angelica. They were going to die.

They were going to die.

Tears formed in Sam's eyes. When she repeated those words in her mind, it was like a blow at her. Both were such good friends, both made everyone smile. Both kept a lookout for everyone. Denis had risked his life saving Angelica, but now he was dying and so was she. She closed her teary eyes and thought back to that one moment.

It had been a rainy morning. Pouring rain. But Denis and Angelica didn't care about the rain and had taken out their bikes to race in them down the street. Sam remembered how she, Flint, Fran, Reg, Esto, Jag, and Brent all stood in Sam and Flint's living room watching them race up and down the street with huge smiles on their faces. Both were crying out happily and laughing as they rode. When they finished, both were soaked.

After they left their bikes alone and just skipped and danced around in the pouring rain. Soon Reg, Jag and even Esto in his wheelchair joined them. Sam, Flint, Brent and even Fran stepped outside too. Fran wore her bright yellow rain coat, yellow rain hat and yellow rubber boots. While everyone ran through the rain, Fran sat on top of Flint's shoulders and tried to catch the raindrops in her palms, while shrieking happily.

That had been probably the only time when everyone was out and enjoying themselves. Denis and Angelica had brought the moment to them. Sam watched as the ambulance was loaded with the stretchers and then drove away. When it was gone, the crowd stood there for a few more minutes, until it broke away and everyone went their ways.

Now the only people left were Sam, Fran, Tim, Brent, Esto, Reg, and Jag. Steve sat at Sam's feet. He had his small fists clenched sadly. When Sam looked down at the monkey, Steve frowned and glanced at the destroyed scene in front of them.

"Steve sad." Steve replied.

"We all are, Steve. But for now let's hope everything will be okay." Jag knelt down in front of the monkey and ruffled the top of Steve's head. Steve just gave Jag a sad smile, before staring into the distance.

"If Denis and Angelica are really dying or even already dead, I—" Brent suddenly began speak. But he stopped and hung his head. Soon after he covered his face with his hands and just began to cry. No one ever saw Brent cry. The only time he was _about_ to was when the Giant Meatball exploded and everyone thought that Flint was actually dead.

No one said another word. They watched the mess that was made by the bomb. Then Reg gulped and slowly made his way to the remains of the factory and where Denis, Angelica, Flint and Albert were found. He had seen something.

They watched him kneel down and pick something off the ground. When he looked up to look at them, he nodded to himself and approached them. What he held in his hands was a bashed up Youth Ray. It wasn't too badly broken. Just a dent in the side. He showed it to everyone else.

"What is it?" Sam asked.  
>Reg pointed to the words 'Youth Ray' engraved in small letters at the side of the invention. Slowly, Reg cradled the invention in his hands. <em>This is what is left of Angelica, so far.<em> He thought. If the tunnels exploded, then her lab was probably gone too.

"Let's head to the clinic. We have to see how Flint and Albert are doing. And maybe visit Denis and Angelica." Esto gripped the sides of his wheelchair.

"Okay." Everyone murmured.

All eight of them, counting Fran began their walk toward Main Street.

No one knew what to expect. Their minds were all clouded with thoughts. Reg, Jag and Esto all thought about how they shared the same house with Denis and Angelica and all the good times they had together. Brent thought about how he was Denis's good friend and how awesome Angelica's dagger skills were. Tim thought about how he went to school with Angelica and then how Flint, Brent and Denis were all good friends in high school. Steve was just sad, because he understood that something awful had happened. Fran was just resting her head on Sam's shoulder and stared into the distance. The only thing Sam had in her mind was that the funeral would probably be held later this week, or next week.

Memories zipped in her mind and by now she couldn't even control how fast they flashed in her mind, or how many tears were streaming down her cheeks.

_They were dying. Or possibly dead._ Those words echoed as the memories cut short.


	23. Chapter 23: Risky Heartbeats

**A/N: I'm so confused right now. More like torn. It is SO hard to choose between DenisXAngelica and AlbertXAngelica! I mean when I first began this story, I was a full DenisXAngelica shipper. But now, it's balanced. I thought about how if Denis or Angelica (or both) die, the love triangle will finally snap. But then both Denis and Angelica are characters I don't really want to let go. But then if die… Okay, I'll stop worrying so much and just write. Flashback=Italics. The flashback takes place during my story 'Footsteps', when Flint, Denis, Marie, and Brent were all in 10****th**** grade. Flint didn't yet meet Denis. **

Eyes opened and glanced around at the white walls in the room. You couldn't really call them white walls anymore. They were more like a soft, light gray. The only thing that hung in the room was a picture of the town from Main Street's perspective. But it wasn't ChewandSwallow. It was a photo of Swallow Falls. Back in the day, when the town was dull, gray and the only thing to eat were sardines. Those opened eyes looked at the photo and blinked.

_What if one day the town was renamed back to Swallow Falls? _Albert thought and he sat up in bed. His arm was bandaged and so was his chest. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. He didn't think it was going to change. But then 'ChewandSwallow' made him think back to the Great Food Incident. With that thought he shrunk in his bed, and was glad that was long over. He hated to think what had happened to _him_ back then.

Shuddering, he lay back down and drew the covers to his chest. A knock came on the door.

"Uh, sir?" a doctor peeked into the room. He held a clipboard and held a paper cup in his hand.

"Yeah?" Albert asked.

"What is your name, sir? We must know to fill some forms out." The doctor told him and scanned the paper on the clipboard.

Freezing, Albert gulped. What happened when the last name 'Shelbourne' was mentioned? Would the doctor immediately call the police? Would Albert be arrested? _They'll probably blame me for the bomb._ Albert sighed and looked at the photo on the wall.

"Can I tell you later, sir?" Albert asked and bit his lip.

"Later? Very well. Just drink this." The doctor handed Albert the cup.

Curiously, Albert peeked into the cup. There was some kind of white liquid in there. It smelled awful too. But he drained it out and gagged at the end. He handed the doctor back the cup and then sat up in bed.

"Uh, doc? Can I visit the lady who was brought in along with me? She's uh, my wife." Albert cleared his throat. He felt weird saying 'wife'. It was hard referring to Angelica as that, since they hadn't been 'together' for almost 17 years.

The doctor narrowed his eyes, "Angelica Rita Oreant?"

"Yes, sir." Albert nodded.

The doctor nodded and helped Albert out of bed. He led him into the hallway and pointed to a room down the hall. As Albert stumbled down the hallway, the doctor tapped his finger on his chin. _Angelica's husband?_ The doctor thought. This doctor tried to remember back to who her husband was. Frowning, he pulled out a pen from his shirt pocket and scribbled the name 'Albert Shelbourne' on the paper. Narrowing his eyes, the doctor watched Albert. He thought he'd better keep an eye on him.

The door creaked as Albert walked to it and gently pushed it open. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind himself. There were Angelica and Denis lying on two beds next to each other. Both were hooked to machines. Angelica wore a white hospital night-gown and her skin looked as pale as the white night-gown. Her wavy brown hair was laid over her pillow and looked wavier and tangled than ever. Her eyelids were closed and Albert noticed how long her eyelashes were.

Denis was pale too. The machine hooked to him was beeping softly and Albert felt bad for him too. The poor guy was much too young to die. His brown hair with its blonde streaks was brushed back into small spikes and Albert saw that someone had washed it. It was clean and free from dirt and blood.

When he looked back at Angelica, he noticed that her hair had been washed. Her forehead was no longer blood-stained. But there was a thin bandage doing all around her head. There was a chair next to her bed and he sat into that. Slowly, Albert took her weak hand. He pressed his lips to it and closed his eyes.

"Please don't die. I beg you." Albert whispered into her hand.

Suddenly the Cardiac Monitor next to her stopped beeping and Albert saw the almost flat lines on the screen, gently ripple and then start to slowly move along. Her heart was slowly beating again. When he had entered the room, her heart was close to stopping and the beeping meant that it was dangerously low. Right now Denis's Cardiac Monitor was beeping.

But then Angelica's lines dropped a bit. Albert thought they would drop completely, but they kept that slow beating.

"If you can feel me holding your hand or hear me, please squeeze my hand or respond in some way." Albert looked at her and moved his lips away from her hand.

There was nothing for a minute. Then Albert felt one of her fingers move. Her lips moved as if trying to speak. But she was so weak; the words could hardly leave her lips. She tried to speak again. Albert leaned in a bit to try to hear her. She tried again and this time he heard her, but the words were faint.

"I'm sorry. For everything." She whispered.

"Oh, Ange. It's okay. I forgive you." Albert nodded and a single tear rolled down his face.

He watched her eyes, hoping they would open and he could see them. The lines on the Cardiac Monitor hopped up a bit and then he saw her eyes open half way. Not even half-way. Just into small slits. Her hand slipped from his and fell onto the blanket covering her.

While she lay there, Albert got up and approached Denis's bed. He peeked at the sheet of paper that was taped to the end of Denis's bed. It stated all the medicine Denis took when he was put into the bed and then a few other notes. One was 'heart completely stopped for a solid 2 minutes. Next time it stops, let's hope he'll come around, instead of dying.' Albert glanced at the Cardiac Monitor next to Denis's bed. The beeping was getting slightly louder.

Even Angelica heard the beeping and tried to turn her head to glance at Denis. Her eyes opened a little more and she squinted at Denis's Cardiac Monitor. When she saw it, she shut her eyes and tried to squeeze her hands into fists. But she was much too weak to do so. Instead she opened her mouth a tried to utter out some words.

"Denis. Oh Denis." She whispered.

Albert watched her. Her heart seemed to speed up a little when she had mentioned Denis's name. Shaking his head, Albert sat down in the chair next to Angelica's bed.

"Ange, do you love Denis?" Albert asked softly.

Her heart did a huge leap and Albert saw the lines go up dangerously and then drop down a second after they went up. She closed her eyes.

"Albert… I-I…" she began in a soft whisper, but never finished.

"Ange…" he began, but she shook her head weakly and squeezed her eyes. A flashback was coming at her. She didn't know where it was coming from. But it came to her.

xxx

"_Oh, I am SO freaking dead. I not supposed to be here, and yet I am! Plus I'm talking to myself! How bad can it get?" Angelica shook her head and blew out a loud annoyed sigh to blow a strand of hair out of her face. _

_She couldn't let ANYONE see her. No one. Someone saw her and she was screwed. She hadn't even planned coming here! She just ditched work and took a plane to Swallow Falls. She hadn't been in Swallow Falls for almost 10 years. Exactly ten years ago, she left Albert and Marie. Angelica furrowed her eyebrows. Marie was 16 now. Albert was 36. Angelica shook her head. She wondered where time has gone. It flew by too fast. _

_As she hid in an alley, she rummaged through the purse she had. She pulled out a pair of big sunglasses and slipped them on. Then she adjusted the black beret she had on. She also wore simple jeans and a white long-sleeved turtleneck. Even in the warm weather, she had decided to wear black leather boots. _

_Slowly she slipped out from the alley and onto the sidewalk._

"_Okay, deep breath! Let's hope no one recognizes me!" she told herself and tried to act innocent as she walked down Main Street. _

_Her eyes scanned the people on the street. She recognized a few people from back in the day. But then there were a lot of new people too. _

_Suddenly she gasped when she saw who was walking down the street. It was Marie. Angelica was taken back how much Marie looked like her. It was even a little scary. Marie was skipping down the street, but stopped when she saw a group of boys approaching ahead of her. Angelica's eyes scanned the group of boys. _

_There was one with blonde spiked hair and a light blue tracksuit, one with slightly long brown and blonde streaked hair and a green T-shirt and baggy jeans, and the last was just some guy with jet black hair and dark clothes. _

"_Hey, Marie." The boy in the green T-shirt grinned at Marie as he approached her first. She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. _

"_What do you want, Denis?" she snapped and glared at him._

"_Oooo, getting angry are we?" Denis snickered and raised a playful eyebrow. _

_Angelica rolled up her sleeves. If that guy did one wrong move, she was ready to punch the lights out of him. But then she thought about how weird it was going to be to storm over there. She was supposed to stay hidden. Besides, Marie could deal with it herself. _

"_Well, let's see...YES! Seeing what you did to me last week! My dad even walked in!" she planted her hands on her hips. _

_Denis sighed and looked at the ground. Marie continued to glare at him. When he looked up at her, he gave her a smile. But she didn't smile back. _

_Angelica wondered what had happened last week. What the heck did this guy do to Marie? She thought. And Albert had walked in on them? What was it? Angelica pulled out a pair of binoculars out of her purse and watched them._

"_I feel like such a stalker." She muttered under her breath. _

"_Can I borrow those, miss?" came a voice beside her. _

"_AHHHH!" Angelica cried out in surprise. _

_She turned to see… Her eyes widened and she took a step back. Her husband was standing next to her. A heart was beating so fast, she was sure it skipped a beat just a second ago. Albert looked down at her, and Angelica was relieved she wore sunglasses. Nodding, she handed him her binoculars and pulled out a new pair from her purse. Both she and Albert stood there in the same position watching Marie with binoculars. _

"_What happened last week?" Angelica asked. She hoped Albert didn't recognize her._

"_Well, the Denis guy was about to kiss her, but I walked into the room and well I hit Marie with the door, by accident. Marie then yelled at me for the rest of the night about interrupting her first kiss." Albert rolled his eyes. _

_Angelica just nodded. _

"_He's good-looking."Angelica nodded. Albert looked at her and narrowed her eyes. She gulped and prayed he didn't know it was her. _

"_How old are you, miss?" Albert asked. _

"_Uh, in my early twenties." She lied. Her age, might throw her off. _

"_Wanna get a coffee?" Albert asked her._

_Angelica lowered her binoculars and dropped them into her purse. _

"_No thanks, sir." She shook her head. Had he figured out who she was? _

_He nodded and handed back her binoculars. Then he walked over to where Denis and Marie stood shouting at each other. Angelica watched him with a sigh. All she could think about was that she actually got to see him. _

"Angelica!" Albert cried to her.

Angelica snapped out of her flashback. This was why she needed the Youth Ray if she wanted Denis. But then what about Albert? What would happen to him if Angelica zapped herself and ran off with Denis? Albert would be a lonely, heart-broken soul.

"Angelica! Denis's heart has stopped!" Albert cried to her.

Angelica's eyes opened widely and Albert was taken aback by her sudden movement. She felt her heart was going crazy. It was dropping and the going back into insane beating. Back and forth.

_No. _she whispered when her heart relaxed.


	24. Chapter 24: Mission Impossible

**A/N: Okay, I finally figured out the ending to this story and who Angelica will end up with. When I was first thinking about this story, Denis was supposed to zap Angelica with the Youth Ray, ask for her hand in marriage, then Albert and Richard crash the wedding and Albert yells at Angelica how she's still married to him and then this whole scene with Angelica running away comes in. But now, things took a different turn and I can finally relax and just finish this story with the few chapters left. =) **

While Esto, Reg, Jag, Brent, Tim, Steve and Fran waited in the waiting room, Sam was going up to see Flint in his room. The people who work at the clinic had said that only one visitor was allowed at a time. Sam had decided to go, and then maybe Tim would go up after.

The elevator doors opened and she stepped into a hallway. The hallway was quiet, but suddenly a loud cry exploded from one of the rooms down the hall. Sam heard a voice and then loud sobs. Curiously, she walked down the hall. Flint's room was across from the room with the sobs.

_I'll first see if everything okay in the room where the crying is coming from and then check on Flint. _Sam thought to herself. Slowly, she came up to the door and saw that it was open a slit open. Biting her lip, she opened the door a crack and peeked inside. Her eyes widened when she saw who was in the room.

There was Albert Shelbourne sitting on the edge of Angelica's bed. Angelica was the one sobbing. She was sitting up in bed, and kept on crying out 'NO!', while Albert tried to place a comforting arm around her. The machine that she was hooked too was beeping loudly and Sam saw the lines on the machine showed that her heart rate was really high.

Then in a bed closer to the door; next to Angelica's was a pale figure. It was Denis. The machine next to him was silent and the lines were flat. His heart had stopped. Sam's face went pale and she stepped back into the hallway. _Denis is dead? Or did his heart just stop for a brief minute. Oh please don't let him be dead! _Sam gasped. She peeked back into the room.

"THE YOUTH RAY! WHERE IS THE YOUTH RAY? I WANT IT, _NOW!_" Angelica cried as tears poured down her face. Albert kept telling her to calm down, but she just buried her face into his shirt and sobbed harder.

_Reg has the Youth Ray._ Sam thought.

She stepped into the room and Albert looked up in surprise.

"Reg has the Youth Ray. He's downstairs in the waiting room." Sam replied.

"Ange, calm down! I'll go bring it!" Albert got up and raced out of the room, past Sam.

"Sam, HE'S GONE! I-I didn't even get to say goodbye!" Angelica collapsed back on her pillow and her heart rate dropped. She curled up in a tight ball and Sam watched her.

Sam didn't say anything. She just stood by the door, watching Angelica. Then Angelica sat up again and stared at the wall in front of her. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but she just looked at Sam. Then she pursed her lips and looked back at the wall.

From the hallway, Sam heard pounding footsteps. Then Albert skidded into the room holding the Youth Ray. He was out of breath. Slowly, he came over to Angelica's bed side and handed the invention. She took it and ran her fingers over the dent in the side. Ignoring the dent, she flicked the switch. The machine hummed to life and she let out a sigh of relief. The Youth Ray let out a soft blue glow and the tip turned warm.

"I'm going to zap you too, Albert." She looked at him.

He opened his mouth to protest, but Angelica glared at him and he nodded. Right now was not the time to mess with her. He came to stand by her bedside. She pointed the tip at him and checked the dial to make sure it was at 20 years. Her finger went over the trigger and she clicked the trigger back.

A blue ray of light escaped the tip and zapped Albert right in the chest. He cried out and clutched his chest in pain. Sam watched with an open mouth. It scary to see him at such a young age. He looked handsomer and his eyes had this mischievous glint dancing around. When he dropped to the floor, he moaned. Angelica smiled to herself and then pointed the Youth Ray at herself.

When she blasted herself, she didn't scream. The blue ray fluttered around her and Sam watched as the blue light was sucked into her. Her body glowed a light blue glow as every part of her lost 20 years. Her hair became wavier and fuller. Her eyes were full of happiness and a strong determination. Her facial features became softer and her skin smoother. Once she transformed, she dropped into her bed.

"Oh god, that hurt." Albert stumbled to his feet and held his head with his hand. When he glanced at Angelica, he smiled and she opened her eyes.

Her eyes looked much sharper and when she glanced around the room, Sam was taken back how blue her eyes were. They pierced right through her and seemed to see through her. She took a step back and then Angelica's eyes moved to look at Albert; who stood next to her bed.

"I think I'll go visit Flint now." Sam told them. Angelica and Albert both nodded at her at the same time and then turned to each other.

As she left, she watched Albert sit at the edge of Angelica's bed and two began to talk. Before Sam stepped out into the hallway, Sam glanced at Denis. _Oh the poor guy._ She shook her head. Quietly, she closed the door and made her way across the hallway to Flint's room.

His door was closed. She opened it as gently as she could and stepped inside. The room was similar to Angelica's and Denis's. The only difference was that there was only one bed. The window in the room was open and Sam felt the warm evening breeze wash over her like a sigh of relief. Flint was asleep on the bed and there were no machine connected to him, or anything like that. His blanket rose and fell as he took in deep breaths while he slept.

Trying not to wake him, she came up to his bedside and sat down at the edge of the bed. For a few minutes she watched him sleep and was grateful that he was alive and breathing. If Flint died, Sam wouldn't know how she'll manage to live without him. She reached out and touched the on the top of his head. It was soft as ever. A bit damp, because someone must have washed his hair, but it was still soft and spiked.

"Sam?" Flint's eyes opened and he looked at her.

"I'm here, Flint." She smiled and he moved over to make room for her to sit down beside him. She crawled onto the bed and sat down beside him. He sat up too and put a weak arm around her shoulders.

Closing her eyes for a second, she leaned her head on his shoulder. Peace and quiet. She wanted to sit here with Flint and for a minute, and forget about everything that was going on outside this very room. All she thought about was how Flint was here and now everything was going to be okay.

The minute stretched on, until Flint broke the still silence with a cough.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked quietly and positioned himself so that he sat properly. Sam noticed that he winced once. He was hurt somewhere.

"Angelica and Albert are. They zapped themselves with the Youth Ray and now are both 24 years old." Sam told him and Flint's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Why Albert?" he asked.  
>"I really don't know." Sam shrugged.<p>

"What about Denis?" Flint asked.

Sam stiffened and Flint felt her sudden move. She sucked in her breath and exhaled loudly. _Oh no. I can already tell that Denis isn't okay. As long as he's not dead, I'll be okay._Flint told himself and waited patiently for Sam to tell him.

"His heart stopped." She whispered.

"What?" Flint jumped back in surprise.

He didn't need Sam answering that. But then he didn't know whether to start tearing up or to just curl up in a tight ball and say the words 'this isn't happening' over and over. So Flint just tightened his grip around Sam and laid his head on top of hers. To prevent tears from coming out, Flint squeezed his eyes shut.

Denis had been so nice to Flint that first day of high school. Even if Brent had been mean and threatened to hang Flint from the flagpole, Denis let Flint sit with the rest of his friends at lunch and actually talked to him. Denis had been nice to everyone at the school, no matter who they were. Flint smiled as he remembered Valentine's Day in 10th grade. Denis had no one to dance too.

_The football team's lockers were located near mine. I saw them all sitting around with girls clustered around. All except Denis. _

"_What's wrong?" I came over to him._

"_Oh, hi Flint. I'm alone this Valentine's Day." He replied sadly. _

"_Me too." I nodded solemnly. _

"_You? I was sure girls would be running after you like maniacs!" Denis raised an eyebrow at me. _

"_ME? No way!" I shook my head. Denis laughed. _

"_Oh don't worry. You'll find someone. And guess what we are doing for gym class today?" Denis grinned and I saw his eyes flicker with something._

"_What?" I asked and suddenly felt worried._

"_They are going to pair the guys up with the girls, and they are going to make us practice waltzing!" Denis laughed, but then his smile faded, "I can't even dance." _

"_WALTZING? Do we have to?" I gasped and Denis nodded._

Flint smiled at the memory. Denis had been so scared, because he had been paired up to dance with Brent's girlfriend. Brent had been watching Denis the whole dance long with narrowed eyes.

Now Denis was gone and he would never be able to dance with a girl ever again. He would never have a girlfriend, never get married, and never do anything. Just when his life had started it ended. It was all Richard's fault. Flint wondered if he was still alive and lying somewhere in the rubble. Or maybe he died (Flint was crossing his fingers). If Richard _was_ alive, Flint knew that they had to get rid of him, before Richard came back and set of part 2 of his evil plan.

_Hold on a minute. Richard IS alive! He had drunk the Immortality Liquid too! _Flint thought in horror.

"Flint, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." Sam nudged him.

"We save to get rid of Richard. Tonight." Flint told her and turned to look down at her face.

"Flint. No. You're still hurt." Sam told him.

"I don't care. I'm doing this for Denis. Richard needs to get his ass kicked." Flint furrowed his eyebrows.

Sam opened her mouth to protest, but the words 'I'm doing this for Denis' stopped her. Denis didn't die for nothing. He died saving Angelica. He had risked his own life and went down there to get her out. But Flint was right. Richard couldn't be kept alive anymore. If he let go, he could cause more destruction and possibly kill more people.

What Sam didn't understand though, was why was Richard doing all of this? He wasn't injected or anything. There was something they didn't know yet about him.

"If you're going, then I'm going too. Tim can babysit Fran." Sam told him and took Flint's hand. He squeezed her hand and smiled.

xxx

The moon was high and gave plenty of natural light. There was a chill in the early summer breeze that blew steadily through ChewandSwallow. The town was dead quiet. After the bomb, everyone was scared to come out for nightly walks. Earl had put up yellow police caution tape that separated the bombed up area from the rest of the town. Then he parked his police cruiser next to the site. But he, himself, wasn't in the car. He just parked it there, so trespassers would _think _he was in it watching. But Angelica knew that it was a pretty dumb idea and he should have stayed in the police cruiser to _make_ _sure_ no one trespassed into the bombed territory.

She wore all black as she crept passed the police cruiser. When she looked at the car, she noticed that Earl was smart after all. He had put up a security camera on the roof of his car. Gulping, she bent down and crawled on the floor. The camera swiveled around with a whirring noise.

"Next!" she hissed.

Albert crept out of the shadows and tiptoed over to the police cruiser. Instantly the camera turned around and Albert dropped to the ground. Soon he appeared next to Angelica.

"Next!" Albert whispered.

Flint and Sam raced toward the police cruiser, but mid-way, Flint winced and clutched his side. Sam took his hand and they slowly staggered over to where Albert and Angelica, sat huddled.

"Next!" Sam called in a whisper.

"I bet you ten bucks they'll ruin our cover and we'll be caught." Albert whispered to Angelica.

"No they won't! But if they don't, you owe me a ten." Angelica snapped quietly at Albert. He glanced at her smiling and nodded.

Reg and Jag crept down the street and soon they came into view. Esto was not with them. Esto was hiding and promised to report anything from his hiding spot. He didn't anyone where he was, but they figured they'll find out soon.

"Time to go into Stealth Mode." Jag grinned excitedly to Reg; who rolled his eyes.

Both Reg and Jag began to creep toward the group. If they made it, Brent was supposed to come in after them. Jag started humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme song and Angelica groaned. They were so going to get caught.

Reg hurried ahead, so he would look like the normal one. Jag continued humming the theme song and then tried to do a somersault as he approached the police cruiser.

But he fell on his back—loudly. The camera whirred around and saw Jag.

"Ten bucks!" Albert held out his hand.

"Not now, everyone run!" Angelica hissed loudly and everyone got up. Brent saw what had happened and raced over to the group.

Reg helped Jag up and then everyone made a mad dash into the bombed up territory.


	25. Chapter 25: Walls

**A/N: After this chapter there will probably be three more chapters plus the epilogue. This chapter is about 'dealing' with Richard (I know all of you guys want him dead!), and some questions will finally be answered…**

The ground was surprisingly still warm, even if the explosion happened hours ago. The smoke was gone and so were all the fires. The place looked like it had been like that for a long time. As if some bigger than just a bomb happened here. From the soft moonlight that fell onto the territory, everyone saw that the ground was mostly black and burnt. There a few patches of the floor, that had been part of the Sardine Factory, but otherwise the ground was black. The bricks and wooden beams that held the factory together were strewn all over the place.

Most of the wooden beams had burned up or were lying in smaller pieces. The bricks were scattered all over. But not all of the Factory had gone. There was a piece of the west wall that still stood strong. Flint came over to the wall and touched the wall with his fingertips. It felt warm. On the wall there was a poster with long faded colors. It was a poster advertising sardines.

"Guys, if someone ends up following us, just hid anywhere. But right now, we must head to the tunnels." Angelica told everyone.

"What do we do if Richard is still alive?" Reg asked.

"We'll figure that out when we see him." Angelica turned to look at him.

Then she saw Jag; who was walking between Reg and Albert. Jag was still not used to having Albert Shelbourne around, so he was still a bit scared. Rolling her eyes, Angelica motioned Albert to come walk next to her. Nodding, he came over. Immediately, Jag relaxed.

They walked down to where the door that led to the tunnels was supposed to be. The door wasn't there, but there was an opening in the ground and a set of stairs leading underground. Frowning, Angelica looked beyond the stairs. Most of the ground had collapsed where the tunnels were supposedly supposed to be. It was going to be dangerous going underground, because the tunnel roof could fully collapse and trap everyone underground.

"We can't all go down. Albert and I should go down. Albert's immortal and I don't really care if I end up dying. You all still have lives out there." Angelica replied.

"We go down with you. We will fight with you till the end. Besides you have a life to live now too." Flint stood up taller and smiled at Angelica. She smiled back.

"Thank you, Flint. And thanks to everyone else here too." Angelica nodded and even turned to smile at Albert.

Back in the hospital, when Sam had left the room, she and Albert had sat there talking. Not about how they'll end up living now, but about everything concerning what has happened almost 2 years ago and about Denis. She had told Albert about all the things they did together and how much she missed him now. Albert listened. Angelica knew he had always been a good listener. When she finished 10 minutes later, he took her hand and told her he was very sorry. They sat like that for a few seconds and then they had left the room.

Right after they had left the room, a couple of doctors had entered the room and crowded around Denis. Angelica didn't know what they were going to do to him, but she knew they couldn't really do anything. Only attend the funeral and keep his image in her mind.

"Let's go then." Brent spoke up and Angelica broke out of her thought.

Albert led the group down the stairs and into the tunnels. As they made it to the bottom, Flint saw that some of the walls that hadn't collapsed were coated in his Spray-On Shoe substance. Those won't probably ever fall. But then there were a couple of walls which didn't have the spray and had a few cracks running along them. When everyone looked up, they saw that most of the tunnel roof had broken away and now they saw the night sky twinkling down on them.

The moonlight seeped in through those breaks in the roof, but there still wasn't enough light. Most sides of the tunnels were dark and shadowy. No one knew where Richard was, but they hoped he wasn't in the dark corners. The last thing everyone needed was a heart-attack. They walked on.

Suddenly something growled. Really loudly.  
>"HOLY CRUD MUFFINS! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Jag screamed like a girl and grabbed Reg's arm in complete terror.<p>

"Geez, Jag! That was only Brent's stomach!" Reg pushed Jag's arm away and stared at him like he was insane or something.

"And who says 'Holy crud muffins'?" Brent raised an eyebrow as he came to walk next to Jag, grinning.

Jag turned red in embarrassment and looked down at the ground. But he looked up and realized no one saw him through the dark anyway. He slipped his hands into his pockets and trudged after Reg and Brent. _Maybe I should stop being so afraid and clumsy all the time. But again, that's what makes me stand out._ Jag smiled to himself. He just hoped that next time he didn't include 'pink frosted sprinkled donuts'. It would come out as 'Holy pink frosted sprinkled donuts!' Then everyone would be laughing and joking about it for at least a week. Now that Jag thought about it, he was hungry. All his swears seemed to have food in them.

They walked over a pile of stone that had come off the roof and finally made it to what was left of the main foyer. It was really bright in the foyer. The whole roof had come down here and the moon was shining brightly into the open foyer. It was eerie. It was because of the silence.

"Where is he?" Sam asked and peeked over Flint's shoulder.

"Shhh!" Angelica shushed and crept to the dead center of the circular foyer. She glanced around with narrowed eyes.

Everyone looked really scared now. It was the silence that scared them. The lighting of the room wasn't bad, but if it had been dark that would made things worse.

_Click!_

Gulping, everyone huddled together in one group. No one dared say anything.

"Hello." came a gruff, familiar voice.

Jag opened his mouth to scream, but Reg slapped his hand over Jag's mouth. Jag let out a muffled scream and shoved Reg's hand away. Jag was trembling. He wasn't the only one.

"Hello." Angelica looked over and everyone turned their eyes to look at the person, who had emerged out from one of the doors that circled the foyer. It was Richard Shelbourne. He had this evil gleam in his eyes, like he was ready to attack.

"Interesting, you all have returned. You _knew _I was still alive. So why come? Hmm?" Richard began to walk around them.

No one _dared_ take their eyes off him. At the same time, no one wanted to answer him. So he stopped pacing and came to stand a few feet away from where Angelica stood. His eyes were trained on her. Albert snatched her hand protectively.

"If you won't talk, then _I_ will. Okay? No answer, very well. First thing I've got to say is that all of you—each and every one of you—have been _wrong_. This is what I've heard 'Oh! It's all Angelica's fault, with her inventions!' or something like 'It's Albert's fault!' NO! I will say this once and ONLY once. It is my fault. And I'm proud of it." Richard's lips curled into a smile and he eyes Angelica and Albert like they were some sort of prey.

When his eyes fell on the rest of the group, they met his glance with a steady one. Even Jag tried hard not look like a trembling rabbit.

"Here's what happened. After Angelica had tested The Evil Injection Liquid on herself and ran off to London, England, Albert was alone for a couple of days. At the time he had been Mayor of Swallow Falls. I came to him one day and told him that since Angelica had left him, he could invade her lab and now everything that once belonged to her, was his. I told him to bring me those inventions. Albert, being the stupid person he was, went and took the inventions he thought were important and brought them to _me_. The moment they were in my hands, I drank the Immortality Liquid. Then I took the Injection Liquid and the Immortality Liquid, mixed them into Albert's coffee the next day and TA-DA! He was evil and immortal. Then I ran off of course." Richard replied dramatically.

"You're my father! Why shouldn't I listen to you?" Albert cried.

"Ah! But if you loved Angelica and cared for her, you would have known better and wouldn't have obeyed me. You would have protected her lab, believing that she will return in the future." Richard crossed his arms over his chest.

"B-but, I—" Albert stammered. He didn't have time to finish. Richard cut him off with a raised hand.

Angelica let the information she just heard, settle inside her. Then she looked over at Albert with narrowed eyes. He looked at her with wide eyes; not really knowing what to say. She was confused. Maybe it wasn't confusion, but she still had questions swimming in her mind. They were questions about what happened when Richard ran off, questions about him even knowing about her lab and questions about what was happening now.

What did Richard want now? What does her Lockdown map have to do with anything? What is his plan? She looked at Richard and he glared back at her.

"Richard, why do want to do all this? I mean you aren't injected, so why do all this evil?" she asked. Her question came out in a quivering voice and she wondered why she was so afraid.

"That's none of your business, Rita!" Richard snapped.  
>"Don't call me that! My mother is dead and you will NOT call me by my mother's name!" Angelica then snatched her hand away from Albert's and took a step out of the group.<p>

"Your mother actually thought before her actions!" Richard snapped back.

"Are you blaming ME now? You just said it was YOUR entire fault!" Angelica snarled.

There was a silence. Richard then pulled out a dagger from his pocket and dropped it at Angelica's feet. She bent down to pick it up. It was her dagger. The last time she had seen it, it was when Albert attacked her back in the Mayor's office. She looked up at Richard, but he just stood there.

"That dagger once belonged to your mother." Richard replied.

Angelica ran her finger down the handle, along the carved out designs and then along the blade. She twirled her dagger in her hands. Her mother's dagger. But she shook her head and dropped the dagger back onto the ground. There was something about this dagger that was different from hers.

"This isn't mine." Angelica told him.  
>Richard's eyes gleamed and Angelica glared back at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it. Angelica picked up the dagger again. Even if this wasn't hers, she had an idea. The blade was heavier on this dagger and the tip seemed to be a bit duller.<p>

It was either now or never.

Richard slipped his hand into his pocket and slowly pulled out a syringe. Angelica watched it. She knew what was coming and she wasn't going to give in here.

"This is the last few drops of your injection liquid. The jar I had got smashed during the explosion, but I managed to save a few drops." Richard came at Angelica.

"Whatever your plan is, it'll never work. Whatever you know about me, will never be said and will be forgotten, whatever you want from us, you will never get." Angelica said and then threw the dagger at the wall behind Richard.

She had aimed the dagger at a very long crack in the wall. It landed there perfectly and more than half the blade fit in the crack. When Richard turned around, he glanced at the dagger and laughed.

"That's it? I thought you'd use the dagger to kill me!" Richard cackled.

"I know." Angelica nodded.

The wall with the dagger in it began to crack along the large crack. The cracks ran along the entire weak wall. The wall was coming down anyway. Angelica knew that this wouldn't have worked if the wall had been sturdy.

"Everybody stand where you are. If the foyer collapses, it'll collapse around us. The roof it broken overhead us, so—" Angelica began to say.

"No, we should get out." Flint told her.

There was a loud crunching noise as the wall shifted. The wall that stood behind Richard was falling.

If they didn't make it out in time, the tunnels will crush them.


	26. Chapter 26: Moonlight

**A/N: Sorry I didn't post this earlier. The site didn't work. But thanks for your reviews! Nameless Reviewer, I did watch all the videos and liked the one where Megatron fell off. L.A.M.B-3, you mentioned Albert's mother. All I'll say that she will make an appearance (gasp!). Pointless One, she could have aimed it at Richard, but he wouldn't have died. Remember he's immortal. The wall would have squashed him and he wouldn't be able to get out. Qille, the dagger will be mentioned again and as for Denis… oh you'll find out soon…**

As everyone was running out of the tunnels, the walls crumbled behind them. After that wall had fallen on Richard, some of the walls around were beginning to crumble down too. Those were the walls that weren't sprayed with the Spray-On Shoe substance. The sprayed ones stayed to keep the rest of the tunnels stable.

But the roof was crumbling and if they didn't make it out quick enough, it would crush them all. It was like a slow motion scene in a movie. Flint was leading everyone out. He held Sam's hand and the two ran ahead of everyone else. After them ran Brent and the henchmen. Lastly, Albert and Angelica ran.

The entrance still hadn't crumbled, but small stones were falling from the roof. Tripping over the stone steps, they ran on. They very second Angelica made it through the door, the entrance closed in as the tunnel wall behind them caved in.

"Don't stop! Keep running!" Flint cried and pulled Sam after him. She nodded and lifted up one hand to hold her glasses as she ran.

"FLINT! WATCH OUT!" Sam cried out.

A piece of the roof was now slipping from the cracks and was right over Flint's head. He gasped and Sam screamed. She pulled him away, but he stood frozen in terror. Then Albert lunged forward and shoved Flint out of the way. The rocks immediately smashed to the ground where Fling previously stood. Albert got up from where he sat next to Flint on the steps.

No one said anything. Then Flint got up.

"Thank you." He helped Albert to his feet. That was the first time that Albert Shelbourne had tried to save Flint's life. It had always been: kill Flint, get Flint, let Flint die.

"No problem." Albert nodded and dusted himself.

"COME _ON!_ The rest of the roof will fall!" Angelica snatched Albert's hand and led him after her. Flint grabbed Sam's hand, made sure Brent and the henchmen were okay and then followed.

Fresh night air smacked them in the faces as they made it to the surface. Behind them they heard a loud crashing noise of stone crumbling. That's it. The tunnels were gone and Richard was gone too. No one could really believe it.

Smiling, they began to walk down the territory. No one wanted to say anything. There was finally true peace. There was no more Evil Injection Liquid left, no more Leagues, no more dark blue trench coats and no more getting tied up and being locked up in some cell. It was like everyone had suddenly taken a deep breath of relief.

Flint put his arm around Sam's waist. She put hers around his. Both were never happier. As they walked, Flint thought about how now he could go back to his inventions and spending more time with Fran and Steve. Sam was glad she didn't have to worry about Flint lying dead somewhere. Maybe she, Flint and Fran could all take a break and go on a trip somewhere. But that was for another day.

Angelica didn't hold Albert's hand. She just walked beside him, with her hands wrapped around herself. Yes, she was glad Richard was gone and so was the League of TUIP. Yes, she was a glad that the Lockdown Map was gone and so was the Evil Injection Liquid. Yes, she still wondered about the mysterious dagger. But she was still worrying about Denis too.

"Are you okay, Ange?" Albert asked her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." She smiled weakly and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, I hope you are. I mean you look a bit pale and you have that hollow look in your eyes." Albert replied quietly.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she pinched her cheeks to make them not so pale and blinked a couple of times.

They all saw the police cruiser up ahead. There was no Earl, but the stupid security camera still stood there. The camera was swiveling around, as if it detected someone coming. The streetlamps flickered in the distance and sent a dim yellow glow to the direction, from which everyone was coming from. Angelica looked up to see a person walking off Main Street and toward the police cruiser. She squinted her eyes.

"Is that Earl?" Jag asked.

"No, I don't think so." Flint shook his head.

The area around the police cruiser didn't have any of the streetlamp's light, so it was hard to see the person's face. But they could see a billowing white T-shirt and shorts.

As they came closer, Angelica's heart was beating louder and louder. _Oh my god. It can't be._ She thought. Then they all stopped walking. The person didn't move. But from where it stood, they could make out that it was a guy.

"Is that—?" Flint gasped.

"DENIS!" Angelica shrieked and her whole face lit up that very moment.

She began to run toward him with a huge smile on her face. He saw her running and his pale face broke out into a smile too. He outstretched his arms and she ran right into them. When she hugged him, he hugged her tightly and she buried her face into his shoulder. Tears of joy escaped her eyes and streamed onto his shirt.

"You didn't die. You came back. Oh my god, Denis." Angelica cried and he smiled.

"The doctors said my heart stopped and they had saved me just in time. I am happy to be back too." He closed his eyes.

Then he noticed that she looked younger. Her hair was richer and thicker and there was something different about her. When he let go of her and looked into her face, he saw that her eyes were bluer, her skin was smoother and her smile was bigger.

Before he could say anything, he heard someone clear their throat. Turning around, he saw Flint, Sam, Brent, Jag, Reg and Albert all standing there. Albert looked younger too. _Was he zapped too?_ Denis looked at him. Then he realized that it was Albert; who had cleared his throat.

"Oh! Sorry." Denis stepped away from Angelica and grinned.

"How did you live?" Jag blurted out with wide eyes. No one else really believed that it was Denis; who was standing right there.

"How about we go home, get some rest and then Denis can tell us everything in the morning? I'm sure he's tired and it's almost one in the morning." Angelica then spoke up.

"Yeah, I am tired, guys." Denis smiled at Angelica and then yawned.

xxx

This was what had happened. First, Flint and Sam went to Tim's house to bring a sleeping Fran home. Then Angelica, Albert and Denis came with them, while Reg, Jag and Brent went to the house that Angelica, Denis, Jag, Reg and Esto all shared.

Speaking of Esto, they had found him at home—fast asleep. He was probably too tired to deal with anything. But everyone laughed when they realized that his 'hiding spot' was right at home. Angelica made sure that Reg, Jag and Brent all went to sleep, so they wouldn't wake Esto. When she made sure that Jag wasn't hiding chips under his pillow, or that Reg didn't fall asleep with the TV remote, she left the house and made her way to Flint and Sam's.

There, Denis was fast asleep on the couch. Flint told her that she and Albert could have the guest bedroom. Before Angelica went upstairs, she came up to sleeping Denis. He slept on his left side. It was probably because the right side of his face was covered in stitches. It was only from the area between his right eye and ear, down to the spot just above the right side of his chin that was stitched.

"Good night." She whispered and shut the lights off in the living room, before she walked into the hallway, past the kitchen and up the stairs.

Upstairs she slipped into bed and fell asleep. Albert was already fast asleep…

Now the clock struck 3 in the morning. Angelica woke up, because she just couldn't sleep. The room felt stuffy, and she wondered if Flint had turned the air conditioner off for the night. But she couldn't take it anymore. Sighing, she kicked off the blanket and got up from bed. Then she look down at her plaid pj pants and white tank top. Now her shoulders felt cold.

She slipped off the bed and crept out into the hallway. With every step she took, the floor creaked. Wincing, she knew what a light sleeper Albert was. What would he say if he saw her creeping out? What would _she_ say?

Biting her lip, she went down the stairs and slipped into the kitchen. There she flicked the lights switch. Her eyes widened when she saw who was in the kitchen. Flint was in mid-kiss with Sam. Both of them turned to look at her and then broke apart.

"Hi guys! Don't mind me!" Angelica apologized and walked past them.

"What's going on, here?" Denis stumbled into the kitchen.

Flint and Sam looked at each other and then at Angelica and Denis.

"Nothing. I'm getting a drink of water and these two are having a make out session." Angelica smiled and winked at Flint and Sam.

"I'd make out upstairs. Too many people come down to the kitchen." Denis grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. Then he looked at Angelica.

"Shut up, Denis!" Angelica sprayed him with water from the sink faucet. He just laughed. Flint and Sam looked at each other.

"I think they like each other." Flint whispered in Sam's ear.

"I agree on that one. C'mon." Sam grabbed Flint's hand and dragged him out into the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Flint asked.  
>"You heard Denis." Sam smiled at him and kissed him quickly on the lips.<p>

Flint smiled and the two went upstairs. Before Flint followed her, he smiled to himself and glanced in the direction of the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Angelica finished drinking her water and dropped her glass into the sink. Denis stood by the table, watching her. As she passed him, he stopped her.

"Follow me." He whispered.

She blinked at him and watched him step out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the front door. At the door he opened the coat closet and pulled out a pair jean. He didn't know whose they were, but they fit him. Denis slipping into those and then grabbed his hoodie and handed it to Angelica. She slipped into it and then put on her boots.

They stepped out the door and neither of them said anything to one another. Angelica just followed Denis down the street, until they reached Main Street. He led her down Main Street and even past City Hall. It was toward the high school he led her. To the football field.

Once they came there, they stood in the sidelines. Angelica looked up at the sky. It was filled with dark colors such as dark blues, and blacks. Over this dark blue blanket there was a scatter of silver glitter. The glitter was the bright stars that lit up the dark blue mass.

The breeze had picked up and blew at Angelica's long wavy brown hair and ran through Denis' gold colored hair. It was a gentle breeze. Not too strong and not cold either. It was a nice warm breeze.

Stretching, Denis raised his hand and falsely yawning dropped his hand around Angelica's shoulders.

"Denis Loquesto, don't tell me you're gonna pull that move on me." Angelica narrowed her piercing blue eyes and glanced sideways at Denis. He grinned mischievously and tapped his fingers on her shoulder.

"Hmmmm... I don't know... Maybe I am." Denis wiggled his eyebrows at her and she smirked.

"Well if you really are going to pull that move, you need my permission." Angelica looked at him.

She wondered what Albert would think. It was time she told Denis that they couldn't be together. That they just had to stay friends. It was going to be hard for him, but she knew that if she didn't say anything now, then Albert would come after Denis.

Denis was nervous too. He wanted to just do this now. Just this once. He'd explain later. Now all he wanted was… _Albert isn't here. He won't know. _It was now or never. Denis took Angelica's hand and twirled her around to face him. She gasped in surprise and when she was facing him, he placed his other hand on the small of her back and pulled her close.

A soft smile slowly came to Denis' face as he looked into Angelica's eyes. She didn't say anything, just blushed. The moonlight from the full moon shone down and touched his face. He kept looking down at her with his smile and Angelica blushed deeper. She was scared to say anything, afraid that the moment would be spoiled. _It's just this once._ She told herself. She had to get over this. Except just when she leaned in, Denis leaned in too and their lips met much faster than both of them expected.

Denis wrapped his arms tighter around her and held her protectively. She placed her hands around his neck and he kissed her deeper. Slowly, they broke apart and Denis pressed his forehead against hers. Her breath was coming out slow and his was faster.

Trembling, he couldn't really believe what he had done.

"I-I… I know that you must be with Albert. I know that I will probably never get to love you, but please promise me this. That we will stay good friends." Denis let go off her and stepped back.

She looked down on the ground and gulped.

"I promise." She nodded and looked up at him.

"I will always love you, Ange. Know that. But you need to be with Albert. It's the right thing. Maybe someday if you and Albert break apart or something… Just remember that I'll always be there. But right now let's just stay friends." He whispered.

"Okay." She nodded.


	27. Chapter 27: Managing

**A/N: This **_**might **_**be the last chapter and then after comes the epilogue. OR this might be the second last chapter and then comes another chapter, then the epilogue. I'll see how this chapter turns out. =)**

When Angelica woke up the next morning, she got out of bed and without washing up or anything like that; went downstairs.

"Good morning!" Flint greeted her cheerfully when she made her way to the coffee machine. Yawning, she muttered a 'good morning' and began to make herself coffee.

"You okay?" Flint appeared at her side.

"Uh, fine." She blinked at him.

"Wanna continue the project we started at my lab after breakfast?" Flint asked her.

"We'll see. Maybe." Angelica mumbled.

She and Flint had started something long ago. So far it was just a big mess on a piece of paper. There had been nothing really to continue with. But she thought about it and told herself that maybe it would be a good idea to work in his lab to get her mind clear.

She heard Flint walking around her and beginning to make breakfast. Then she heard footsteps coming down the stairs in the hallway. _Denis, Sam or Albert. I'm guessing Sam._ Angelica leaned her head on the cool countertop and sighed.

"Good morning!"

_Right. I guessed wrong. It's Denis. Even better._ She groaned and she felt blush creeping up on her face. Last night, after he had kissed her, they walked around Main Street a bit and Angelica told him about getting rid of Denis and everything else that happened while he was 'gone'. He listened quietly and in the end led her home.

"You okay?" she felt a cool hand on her shoulder.

Lifting her face off the counter, she looked up into Denis's face. He looked concerned.

"I'm fine." She stepped away from him and went to check on the coffee machine.

Soon Sam came downstairs with Fran. Fran was very bright this morning and waved at everyone in the kitchen. Smiling, everyone waved back. Sam let Fran sit down on the kitchen floor, while she picked up the home phone and called Reg so that he, Jag, Esto and Brent could come for breakfast.

Denis knelt down in front of Fran. She clapped her hands at him and he picked her up in his arms and sat her down on top of his shoulders. She cried out cheerfully and tapped her tiny palms on top of Denis's head.

"Who can you see Franny?" Denis grinned and Fran was silent for a moment.

"Daddy!" she gurgled and pointed at Flint; who was making scrambled eggs at the stove.

"Who else?" Denis asked with a smile.

"Mama!" Fran pointed at Sam and Denis gasped.

He looked over at Sam; who was standing there with a wide grin on her face. Sam looked over at Flint and he stopping what he was doing and looked up at Fran. Both parents looked proud. Flint beamed and Sam came to stand next to him. He wrapped one arm around her waist and gripped the spatula with the other.

"She's growing up." Flint kissed Sam's cheek. Sam kissed Flint's cheek back and took the spatula from him.

"Let me finish, before you burn something." Sam smiled and he stepped away to let her cook.

"Who else do you see?" Denis asked.

The door suddenly slammed open and everyone heard cries from the hallway.

"Oooh!" Fran's eyes widened and she pointed to the hallway.

Denis walked into the hallway and peeked gripped his head, even if he held her tight. She peeked over his head and pointed at the people at the door. It was Reg, Jag, Esto and Brent. Brent and Reg looked out of breath.

"You guys need to build a ramp for your porch. It's hard carrying Esto's wheelchair up each time." Brent huffed.

Reg nodded and Jag just went into the kitchen. The kitchen was crowded now. Everyone was there, except for Albert. Angelica walked out of the kitchen and made her way upstairs. She didn't remember seeing him in bed. He was probably in the bathroom or something.

As she walked up the stairs, she he listened for running water or some kind of sound to tell her that Albert was upstairs. But there was nothing. Frowning, she walked into the guest bedroom and peeked inside. No Albert. In the bathroom. No Albert. Now she was getting worried. She swung open the closet door and found a note taped to Angelica's outfit, which lay on a stool. She picked it up.

It said:

_Went to your office. Meet me there. –Albert _

Her eyes widened and she realized what was wrong with that. Everyone in the town still thought Albert was still some evil criminal. If someone saw him, he'd get arrested. This wasn't good. She decided she'd go the way she was dressed now. The clothes in the pile were the ones Richard had given her. The long-sleeved purple shirt, black skirt and boots. The boots were downstairs. But the rest of the outfit was like a blow coming at her.

She had worn the same exact outfit somewhere else. Now that she thought about it, she remembered when. It had been a sunny morning just like today. It was the morning she left Albert and ran away. _But what does the outfit have to do with what Richard was planning to do with me? _She thought to herself.

xxx

Sam had gone for a walk with Fran in her stroller. Reg, Jag, Brent and Esto all went to football field to coach a couple of high school kids. Denis, Flint and Angelica all went to the City Hall to see what Albert wanted. Angelica didn't want to go alone.

The elevator doors opened to the top floor and they stepped out into a carpeted hallway. It was really quiet up here. No yelling, no shouting. Angelica led them to the end of the hallway. The door was slightly open. Pushing it open, the three of them stepped inside.

The office was clean. There was no blood on the floor or anything else lying around. A neat pile of paperwork was on the table. In the middle of the desk lay Angelica's dagger, which had been polished and cleaned. At the window stood Albert. He turned around when he heard them.  
>"Good morning." He smiled at her, Denis and Flint.<p>

"'Morning." The three of them chorused in one voice.

"Did you clean up?" Angelica looked around the office. It might have been the janitor.

"Yeah," he nodded and watched her come up to the desk and pick up her dagger. She twirled it around her fingers and then set it down.

Next she looked through the pile of paperwork. Ever single sheet was done for her. Albert had done all this for her. He actually got up early to come here and tidy up, plus finish all her work. She glanced at him and he smiled. Then she frowned for a second. _Or is he doing this because he wants me to step down from being Mayor? But if I do step down, no one will ever elect him._ She thought and narrowed her eyes at him. She knew Albert long enough to know that he was up to something. Even if he wasn't injected, he still had this mysterious side to him.

There was a sudden knock on the door. Flint opened it and suddenly five people appeared at the doorway and began to shove each other as they fought to get into the room. When they did manage to get into the room, all stood there looking at Angelica. She blinked at them in confusion.

"Uh, are you guys those five students who wanted to be substitute Mayors?" she asked.

"Yeah!" they all replied at the same time.

"But I don't need anyone to substitute anymore. What I DO need is someone to help out with paperwork and organizing town events." She smiled.

The five students all exchanged glances and then at the same time cried out "I'll help!"

Then all five glared at each other. Before Angelica knew what was happening, they began to argue with each other on who would be the best at the job. Rolling her eyes, Angelica shook her head and waited for the arguing to stop. Flint, Denis and Albert all watched with wide eyes as the five shouted at each other.

"Can I deal with this?" Albert asked.  
>"No, you'll scare them away." Angelica shook her head.<p>

"Oh very funny, Angelica." Albert said sarcastically.

They waited a few minutes.

"Can I deal with this?" Flint asked.

"No, they won't listen to you." Angelica crossed her arms over her chest.

Flint nodded and looked over at Denis; who didn't even bother saying anything. The arguing soon got louder and they began to threaten each other. Angelica knew she had to stop this before anyone got violent.

"STOP IT!" she shouted.

Silence. All five froze and blinked at her.

"That's better! Now, how about _all_ five of you assist me?" She smiled sweetly at them.

All five blinked at her. Then they all nodded. She sighed with relief and told them to come back later. Then she ushered them out the door. As they left she heard them talking to one another, as if none of the arguing happening.

"I'll show Angelica the list we wrote down of ways to change the town! Maybe we could get an amusement park build!" she heard one of them call out.

"I'll be in charge of the fireworks display at the events!' another cried.

"We should write a biography on her and make it into a bestseller!" one of the five replied.

"We should spray-paint the town one day!" another shouted.

"We could install a high-tech security system into all the houses that will be on the watch for Shelbourne." The last one told the rest.

"Dude, he was right there in the office." one of them pointed back at the office.

All five looked back at the office and wanted to take a peek in, but Angelica closed the door. She heard them all shuffle behind the door. They were probably eavesdropping. But she didn't care. There was nothing to really eavesdrop about. Albert was good again and everything was all good.

She looked around her office and then at Albert, Flint and Denis. Flint stood there with his hands in his lab coat pockets, as he looked around the office. Denis was watching her, but when he saw that she was looking at him, he looked away. Albert was thinking about something, because he seemed to be in deep concentration.

"Ange. I need to talk to you. It's about Richard, where John is right now, and pretty much a bunch of other things." Albert told her.

The moment he looked up at her with his brown eyes, she just stared. When she looked at him, she thought about last night. She and Denis had promised to stay friends. She and Albert were supposed to be together. It had to be that way.

"I know. I have to you about something too. I want to change my last name. I think." she gulped.

From where Flint and Denis stood, she heard a gasp. It had come from Denis. She turned to look at him. His eyes widened and he clenched his hands into fists at his sides. Albert's eyes widened too.

**A/N: Nope, not last chapter. Next one is the last, then epilogue =)**


	28. Chapter 28: Final Words

**A/N: Here we go. Last chapter. The epilogue won't be too long. It'll be at the end of this chapter. But I'm really sad to finish all this. I will try to make this chapter good =)**

No one really knew what to say. Angelica dropped her head into her hands and took in a deep breath. She just wanted to do this. It would bond her and Albert together and if they ever had kids, they would all share one last name. She was going to become a 'Shelbourne'. When she thought about having the last name, getting people calling her 'Mayor Shelbourne' and just being a Shelbourne, it sent chills down her spine.

Then she thought about how long the title 'Mayor Shelbourne' has been around. Richard has been 'Mayor Shelbourne', Albert has been 'Mayor Shelbourne' and now she was going to be one too. Would people even want her to be Mayor anymore? She looked up and looked at Albert. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows creased upward in concern.

"I am changing it. I'll become Angelica Rita Shelbourne." She whispered and Albert didn't say anything.

"You don't have to." He touched her shoulder.

She didn't say anything; she just came over to her computer, which sat on her desk. Slowly she booted it up. That meant that she had to change her last name everywhere. Driver's license, credit card, in the bank account, and then tell everyone.

xxx

That afternoon, Angelica took a shower, brushed her hair into a bun, put on her work clothes (white blouse, dark blue suit jacket, dark blue suit skirt and dark blue ballet flats) and headed down to Main Street's center. She had called up a town meeting in the center.

The whole town had gathered. Sam, Flint, Fran, Brent, Reg, Jag, Esto, Denis, Tim, and Steve all gathered closest to the stage so they could see Angelica the best.

Angelica was behind the stage's back drop curtain. She and Albert stood there. Albert had put on the suit he wore as a Mayor. Both stood there looking at each other. Then Angelica hugged him and he hugged her back. She didn't want to let go. She felt scared.

"After, I'll tell you everything. Just go on there and tell them all you need to say." Albert let go of her. She stepped away and nodded.

Taking in a deep breath, she walked out from behind the back drop curtain and stepped onto the stage. The crowd went wild and applauded. In the front, Denis cheered the loudest. She smiled and walked up to the podium and stepped up. Tapping the microphone, she cleared her throat and the crowd went quiet.

"Good afternoon, citizens of ChewandSwallow! I'm glad all of you have gathered today. I must say it has been long since we've had a meeting. Today I just want everyone to listen and _after_ you may ask questions." Angelica replied and her voice rang out loud through the crowd.

No one said anything. They were patient and were ready to listen to whatever Angelica had to tell them. But she didn't say anything yet. Instead she waited. Slowly the curtain behind her moved and Albert came out on stage.

There were gasps. Murmuring broke out in the crowd and some people even stepped back when they saw him. Earl looked ready to jump on stage and arrest Albert. The five students all stood there with their jaws wide open and their eyes really wide. The whispering got louder, and then Angelica raised her hand. Silence fell over the crowd, but Angelica could still here faint words here and there.

"He won't hurt you." She gulped.

"But he did so much! He should be thrown into jail!" someone shouted from the crowd.

"No. He shouldn't." she leaned over her podium and glared at the person; who had said that.

"Stop defending him! It's because he's your husband, right?" the same person snapped.

Angelica sighed, "Just let me explain." She took the microphone from its holder on the podium and walked to edge of the stage, and closed her eyes for a moment. The crowd watched her. She cleared her throat and began to talk. The words just flowed out of her mouth. It was painful to talk to a crowd of people about what had really happened. But she did. She told them how she had a lab, how she invented many things, how she invented the injection liquid and from there she went on how she left and how Albert turned into a monster.

After she skipped to how The League of DBTC was born and told them bits about what happened almost 2 years ago. Then she moved on to telling them about The League of TUIP and how Richard had come back. This had gone on for at least an hour. But she hadn't told them EVERYTHNG. Just was what important. Some things she left out. For example she didn't mention the Time Machine or the government helicopter or her blasting herself with the Youth Ray. These were things that had to be kept safely shut in her mind. But she had told them about changing her last name. That was what she was finishing off with.

As she finished, the crowd didn't move. Everyone was speechless. Even her friends at the front stood there with wide eyes. Once Angelica had summed everything up in an hour, it seemed like something unreal. Like all of that was just a nightmare.

"I'm sorry, Angelica." The person who had snapped at her earlier replied.

"That's quite fine." She bowed her head and looked at the crowd.

"I cannot believe all this had happened." Someone whispered from the crowd.

"We're sorry Albert!' someone else cried.

Cries, apologies, and comments rang out through the crowd like a wave. Angelica closed her eyes and let the words wash over her. It was out of her. Never did she want to remember all _that_. She wanted to start over. Love Albert like she did long ago, maybe start a family, and enjoy the peace in her life. Even if she still had a LOT of questions about what Richard had planned and everything that everything that had happened these few days back, she needed to forget all that. This was her life now. She was Angelica Rita Shelbourne…

That evening, Flint, Sam, Fran, Steve, Reg, Jag, Esto, Brent, Denis, Albert and Angelica all laid out one giant picnic blanket on the docks, that hadn't been touched by the explosion. The sun was about to set on the horizon, but for now it was shining in the sky and sending down bright rays. The sky wasn't blue, but was a serene shade of orange of pink. Flecks of gold color sprinkled around the clouds and made them look like they were glowing.

Food was spread on the picnic blanket and everyone sat in a semi-circle eating. They sat like that so everyone was facing the setting sun. On the left edge of the semi-circle sat Flint. Next to him was Sam holding Fran, then Brent, Denis, Angelica, Albert, Steve, Jag, Reg and finally Esto on the right edge in his wheel chair. Everyone was talking and eating.

"Who made the baked chicken?" Flint shoveled some into his mouth from his plate. Everyone was asked to bring something. Even if they didn't know how to cook.

"Me!" Angelica beamed.

"These mushrooms are good!" Jag ate some from his plate.

"Uh, those are sauced scallops. I made them. Do you like them?" Reg beamed.

Jag's face went pale. He couldn't stand seafood. So he politely swallowed the ones in his mouth and grinned a toothy smile at Reg and nodded. As for the rest of the scallops, he slipped them to Steve (who sat beside him). Steve saw the scallops and then glared at Jag. Jag made a shushing noise at him and motioned for Steve to eat the scallops, before Reg saw that Jag gave them to Steve.

Sitting beside Steve, Albert saw what Jag was trying to do and laughed. Jag looked at Albert and frowned. Albert smiled and rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, Steve was poking the scallops with his finger. Then he glared at Jag. Taking the scallops, Steve threw them into the water.

"He did it!" Steve cried and pointed at Jag.

"Jag! Why'd you throw them into the ocean? I thought you liked them!" Reg demanded and peeked over the dock's edge to glance at the scallops in the water.

"What? It wasn't me! Steve did it!" Jag cried.

Everyone glanced at Steve; who sat there trying to look as innocent as he could. The monkey smiled sweetly and blinked his wide orange eyes at everyone. Then they all looked at Jag. Flint looked at him and then back at Steve. Chuckling to himself, he looked at Jag and winked.  
>"Steve, I <em>saw<em> you throw them into the water." Flint looked at the monkey and tried to keep a straight face.

Steve's eyes widened, "Steve?" Then he glanced at everyone in the circle and turned red.

"Steve did it." Steve muttered. Flint smiled and nodded. Jag looked down at the monkey and ruffled the top of his head. Steve looked up at him and stuck his tongue out at Jag. Everyone laughed.

Then Denis spoke up. He told everyone that the sun was going to set soon. The sky was now turning a darker shade of orange and pink. But the sun still hadn't set. It was coming any second now.

As they sat there and watched the clouds Flint motioned Sam to sit in his lap. She scrambled into Flint's lap. Fran curled up in Sam's hand and Flint wrapped his arms around Sam and Fran.

"Daddy, Mama." Fran looked back at her parents. She tried to smile and then the corners of her mouth rose a little more and she fully smiled a dimpled smile at her parents. Both smiled down at her at her and she continued smiling back. Sam leaned in and kissed Fran's cheek. Fran smiled wider and then leaned in and brought her lips to Sam's arm, then to Flint's arm. She looked up at her parents as she did so and blushed a light pink.

Sam leaned her head back on Flint's shoulder and when she looked up at him; he kissed her gently on the lips. Their kiss deepened and Sam turned her head slightly. Fran watched them. Then she clapped her hands. Flint and Sam broke away slowly and laughed at Fran.

Across from the happy family, Angelica sat between Denis and Albert. Albert had his arm around her shoulders, but what he didn't see was that Angelica was holding Denis's hand. Denis held it and Angelica sighed. Finally Denis let go of it and looked at Angelica. She looked at his green eyes and he smiled ever so slightly. Then he turned away to look at the setting sun. Angelica looked at Albert, who held her happily. He finally had a smile on his face.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me later?" she asked him softly.

"I wanted to tell you that my mother called earlier today. She's coming to visit tomorrow, all the way from Italy." Albert whispered.  
>"Your mother?" Angelica's eyes widened.<p>

"Don't worry. She's not like Richard," Albert explained and Angelica let out a sigh of relief, "But I've also wanted to tell you… that I love you, Ange."

Angelica closed her eyes and leaned her head on Albert's shoulder. He stroked her long wavy brown hair and she murmured the words back. They felt ancient, but they came out like a melody.

"I love you too." She opened her eyes.

The sun in front of the group was now touching the horizon. The sky turned into a burst of orange, pink, red and gold. The sun was reaching out the last of its rays to the painted sky and set off a light glow on the group. The clouds were what amazed everyone. From the colors of the sky, they had turned a shade of crimson red.

"You know what those clouds remind me off? Meatballs." Brent then spoke up with a smile and licked his lips as he watched the red clouds. At that time, Esto began to rummage through a bag he had brought along. Slowly, he pulled out a small canvas and a few tubes of warm colored paint and a paint brush.

"It's cloudy with a chance of meatballs." Flint replied outloud.

Everyone smiled and nodded.

Yes it was.

**Epilogue**

Take a walk through ChewandSwallow maybe a year from now. Many things have changed. Many good things.

Flint Lockwood had begun to sell some of his inventions, such as the Spray-On Shoes (which he changed to Spray- On Sealant). He had also fixed up his Remote Control TV and sent it to some big company in New York. His Monkey Thought Translator was sent to Japan, since they had a company that dealt with animal translators. Other than dealing with inventions, he actually became a 9th grade science teacher at the high school.

Sam Lockwood had thought about returning to her old Weather Reporter Job. She did. She worked at the ChewandSwallow weather station and did the weather report everyday in the morning with the morning news and in the evening with the 6 o'clock news. Other than her job, she found plenty of time to spend with Flint and Fran.

The three: Reg, Jag and Esto, had changed A LOT. Esto had become a painter and actually sold some of his painting. He was most famous for a painting he had done one evening long ago, when the clouds looked like meatballs. Reg didn't really tell anyone what he did, but he flew around in the government helicopter a lot. Sometimes he'd disappear for days. Jag of course became a comedian. No one was really surprised. He had appeared on a couple of famous talk shows.

Brent took Denis's place as the football coach at the high school. It was because Denis was trying to get into NFL. He wanted to become an official NFL coach. Right now he was coaching a college football team in New York and waited till NFL recognized him and took him in.

Angelica and Albert were living a really happy life. Albert was elected as Mayor of ChewandSwallow, since Angelica couldn't really go to work anymore. The reason for that was that she had given birth to twins. A boy and girl. The girl had been named Marie and the boy she had named Den (after Denis).

Things were going this way and everyone knew that there wa finally peace and happiness. If there something that was higher than happiness, it would be that.

**THE END**

**A/N: There we go. I'm finished with the whole series! I'm really sad to finish, but not everything lasts forever, right? I give a BIG thank you to Qille, L.A.M.B-3, Nameless Reviewer and Pointless One for reading my whole CWACOM series and reviewing. Thank you guys SO much, I hoped you enjoyed reading! CWACOM and all its characters belong to Sony Animation. Angelica, Denis, Esto, Reg, Jag, Richard and John all were made up by me. =)**


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